


Blood Vines

by mx devil (mxdevilishere)



Category: Badboyhalo, DreamSMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Skeppy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dream Team SMP Setting (Video Blogging RPF), BadBoyHalo - Freeform, Bloodvines - Freeform, DreamSMP - Freeform, Eggpire, Friendship, Gen, How Do I Tag, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Platonic Relationships, Skephalo, skeppy - Freeform, why is ao3 so fucking complicated its nearly 12 in the morning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29170557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxdevilishere/pseuds/mx%20devil
Summary: Blood and ice, water and vines, across the world, in the same place he nearly died.Deep in the ocean, deep in the ground, vines, slime, brownish red, all year-round."Together til death do part," he says and weeps, "Where's the real Bad? The real one, the one who loves to hug me?!"A skephalo fanfic, Dream SMP based, in an AU where Skeppy is cured of the egg infection, and comes back to meet the server in the state it shouldn't be.
Relationships: Skeppy/Badboyhalo, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch, Zak/Darryl, skephalo - Relationship
Comments: 10
Kudos: 113





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> uhh Twitter told me to write this so like fuck
> 
> this will contain scenes of minor violence and the mention of blood a lot (bloodvines and bullshit) so basically if you're not into that stuff, I suggest you walk away.
> 
> ALSO THE EGG IS TALKING BACKWARDS SO I APOLOGIZE TO EVERYONE WHO IS EITHER USING A PHONE OR OTHER SHIT I WANTED IT TO BE MORE MYSTERIOUS AND APOLOGIES FOR IT IF IT INCONVENIENCES YOU!!!
> 
> ALSO NOTE THAT I AM NOT THE BEST AT ENGLISH AND I CAN SPEAK IN A MIXTURE OF AAVE AND NIGERIAN PIDGIN BETTER THAN I CAN SPEAK FORMAL ENGLISH SO YEAH THATS A THING
> 
> AND IM NOT THE BEST AT WRITING AS YOU CAN SEE THERE ARE MANY MISTAKES AND REPEATS AND TIME SKIPS AND SO NO SO PLEZ BARE WITH MEE :(
> 
> also its nearly 12am I need some fucking sleep.
> 
> and yeah. enjoy the story you sleep deprived fucks.
> 
> EDIT: VERY BIG DISCLAIMER FOR THE STORY! THIS IS A PLATONIC SHIP, NOT ROMANTIC. YOU CAN STILL TELL SOMEONE THAT YOU LOVE THEM WHILE BEING FRIENDS. YOU CAN STILL HUG PEOPLE TIGHTLY WHILE YOU'RE FRIENDS. DO NOT GROUP THIS BOOK INTO ROMANTIC SHIPS PLEASE!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're not who you were before the corruption.

All he could do was cover his head and hair in the purple cloak and put on his blue derp box as he walked down the prime path in the rain.

The air smelled of smoke and wet plants, the path stank of washed out potions and blood. It had been a long time since he walked on here, not quite sure if this was the last time he’d do so.

Sam- with the help of a remedy he made, cured him of the egg’s influence. He was Skeppy again- blue skeppy again. Just the way he was before he was trapped in the egg.

Sam advised him to walk around wearing a cloak dunked and dried in some church prime water. Not that he knew why it would help him, but Sam knew what he was doing, right?

A red poster caught his eyes. Normally there were memes pasted everywhere in the server, but particularly this caught his eye.

Bad held his hands out, a red egg behind him. ‘Find your home in the eggpire!’ it said.

The egg. The eggpire? He remembered a weird egg he and Bad found deep in the mines. What eggpire?

He looked around even more. More was there. Different art styles but similar slogans and the same propaganda over and over again.

_ THE EGG SHALL SAVE YOU. _

_ TRUST THE EGG. _

_ JOIN THE EGGPIRE. _

_ THE EGG SAVES. _

He didn’t like it. He looked around, trying to find a distraction. That's when he saw it.

A bloodvine. No, bloodvines. They were everywhere. More than when he first saw it. 

More than he could even count with his fingers. The rain had caused them to grow even more, and made them secrete a red substance. 

Skeppy walked up to it and put his hand on one and took it off. He looked at his hand. Blood dripped from his index.

This, this wasn’t right.

Rain dripped down the blue box he covered his face with. Where was bad? What happened? How did everything become worse than it already was? 

Bad wouldn’t let it get this bad, where was he?

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Their shared mansion was an abandoned state.

Bloodlines ripped through its cores like a kraken to a ship. The lights were out and some laid flickering. There was a big ass prison beside it too.

Things were either missing or badly damaged. Walking down the balcony hallways in the dark rainy evening gave him more of a ‘stood up at a school dance’ vibe than what was happening.

Bad said he would renovate it. Why was it still like this, after all this time?

Where was Bad himself? The thought of seeing the muffin crazed demon made him giggle to himself.

Skeppy walked back to the porch of the mansion and sat down, sighing.

He didn’t know where he was though. He would be dead worried and sad for him though. He had to find him!

“Hey! Big man!” Skeppy looked up and then ducked as the child glided down with a trident, crashing into the doors.

“Sorry mate!” The British child recovered and sat. He turned to look at Skeppy with his bright blue eyes. He wore the same cloak as him but a different size, with a small green bandana tied loosely around his neck.

“Nah, it’s fine.”

“What are you doing at the mansion? You never come here anymore.

“Oh, I was just looking for Ba-”

“Oh, I didn't realize; you’re back to blue Skeppy now! I remember Bad got worried sick when you turned red. Too bad that man is literally a cultist now.” Skeppy turned to him with surprised and horrified eyes.

“Tommy, what the fuck did you say?” The blond turned to him before he gave him a silent ‘o’.

“Forgot you were under the egg’s influence first. Let me give you a short recap of everything. Dream is in jail, L’manburg got bombed, I’m building a hotel, Tubbo made a small country and has nukes, Bad started some weird cult with Antfrost around the egg in the mines and Wilbur and Schlatt might come back to life.”

“What?”

“You’ve been gone for, well, quite some time.”

Skeppy stood up, pulling out his trident.

“Where’s Bad?!”

“He’s most likely at the egg but-”

“THANKS TOMMY-” Skeppy stanced and shot into the air out of the area.

“Skeppy, wait I forgot to mention-”

But he was already too far away for him to hear the rest of what he said.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

The rain became worse. Things were tearing and flapping in the wind, the clouds were grey and everything except the blood vines and himself were drained of color.

He didn’t like it.

The wooden based hole finally appeared in view, the builds around it had eggpire posters pasted everywhere.

The feeling of dread clouded his mind, so did the desire to see his friend.

He jumped down, landing in the familiar cold water and got up, dusting himself. He looked around. The spider spawn and chests were still here, an eggpire poster was there as well.

The only sound that could be heard was some pulsing blood vines and dripping water.

  
  


“tnavres ym dneirf dlo ruoy rof daerd fo esnes a leef I.” Skeppy looked behind him. No one was there.

Was he hallucinating?

The voice was calm , cold and demonic, something he knew and remembered very well.

He hated it. It reminded him of the mentally trapped feelings he endured under the egg’s influence. Floating in a dark liquid place, that same demonic voice whispering to him awful things while he banged against its invisible walls, yelling, screaming in fact, to be let out. He wanted him to know that he was still here as Bad tried to help him. He couldn’t control his body at all. All he could do was cry quietly as the demon used his body to push Bad to the edge.

And it succeeded in doing so from what he heard.

Bad didn’t look like Bad in the posters. He looked warped and grey, and just not him. Did something take over Bad, or was this even him at all?

There was only one way to find out.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

The hallways smelt of blood and burning weeds. The narrow hallway felt unsafe.

Skeppy gagged at the smell of the lichen and vines growing everywhere he walked, and pushed away the leaves as he walked down the mine’s stone and cobblestone steps.

“Taerht a fo hguone ydaerla si evila gnieb mih.”

“But he's my friend! My bestest best friend!” Bad’s normally happy sappy voice was stripped down into an intimidated small one.

“Gge eht fo doog eht rof sti.”

“I can't do it. I won't do it.”

“Eripme ruo snetaerht eh!”

“he's the main reason this empire is even here!”

“Tseb eht rof sti wonk uoy…”

Who was he even talking to? Skeppy took a peek out into the room and covered his mouth shut as he gasped at the sight. 

  
  


Vines covered in blood pulsated through the room; red lichen and moss clung onto the walls. In its corner, a red egg sat, with a similar figure sitting beside it.

He attempted to take a step into the room, but a vaguely threatening aura flashed through his body as he jumped away.

“Yawa yats!” The demon voice yelled in his mind, causing him to run back to the hallway to take a small breather.

“Skeppy! There you are!” He looked at the end of the hallway. Puffy, Tommy and Sam were running towards him, soaked from the heavy rain.

“What are you guys doing here? I just came here to talk to Ba-”

“I gave you the cloak since the blood vines could possibly infect you again. I didn’t think you were going to meet Bad!” Sam said, facepalming as Puffy tackled and hugged him.

“Oh my gods Skeppy thank goodness you’re back to normal!” The sheep lady hugged him as she got off him and helped him up.

‘I was trying to tell you that Bad was kind of evil, and attached to the egg and listened to it and shit! He tried to trap me near the egg, and trapped Sam Nook on top of it for a whole night!” Tommy waved his hands around to show the gestures of his explanations

Skeppy felt conflicted.

“Bad wouldn’t do that… would he…?”

“Skeppy, I’m gonna keep it short and honest. Bad has changed a lot since you got infected. He joined the egg to be with you since he couldn’t cure you of the egg, and hasn’t been his normal self since then.”

“Bad wouldn’t hurt me, he’s my friend! My bestest friend! I’m going to go speak to him!”

“Skeppy wait!” Puffy was too late to grab him as he ran down to the egg room.

“Bad…?”

The room tension felt, what you could call, different.

The egg wasn’t talking, it gave a weird smug aura. Bad, however, Bad was standing in front of the doorway, holding an axe while he slouched. His eyes were bloodshot, his neck and wrist had marks as if someone grabbed him.

“Bad… You good?”

“I’m- I’m fine Skeppy. It’s me, your friend, Badboyhalo.” He had a dead look in his eyes. His neck made a cracking sound as he fixed up his posture and was pinned to the floor as Skeppy hugged him.

‘I missed you! It’s been so long! I thought I was gonna be trapped in that stupid egg influence thing forever! I finally get to see you again!”

“Skeppy-”

His face turned sour, feeling that something wasn’t right.”

“Aren’t you happy that I’m back? I haven’t seen you in forever!” Skeppy took note of the loss of color in his friend. The red that were normally in his horns and claws were now white.

“Yes, I am, I would and I am, because I’m your best friend!” His smile looked forced. His voice cracked with hidden intent.

Skeppy immediately backed away from his friend.

“Bad, is that really you?” He heard the shuffling of feet behind him, most likely his friends.

Antfrost crawled from the shadows beside him, his eyes glowing magenta. His claws and teeth were sharper and he resembled a demon cougar more than an anthropomorphic housecat.

“Skeppy, since you’ve gotten out of, well, the egg’s influence, you’ve become a problem and rival to the eggpire.” Antfrost drew out his netherite sword.

“What the fuck do you mean by that Bad? The eggpire? What happened to Ant? What happened to you?” Skeppy’s voice bled of agitation and anger.

“The egg has simply made us better and stronger. It gave us our greatest desires.” Bad’s facial expression was serious, while Skeppy's only showed more anger and confusion.

“This is your greatest desire? To be some minion to some demon egg while you hurt and kill everyone around you? Can you even do anything for yourself? Did you not see what happened to me? I fucking hate that thing!”

“You can either hate the egg or love the egg. But eventually, everyone, and I mean everyone, will come to love the egg.” Badboyhalo changed his weapon to a trident, holding it tightly.

Skeppy had had enough. He ran to his friend and shook him aggressively.

“This isn't the Bad I know! The Bad I know wouldn’t start a cult around an egg that nearly killed me! The bad I know would say “language” when I curse! The Bad I know wouldn’t take over the server because some egg in the basement told him so!”

His face showed no emotion towards him as he pushed the purple-cloaked boy away. His eyes glinted as he raised his trident towards him.

“I’m sorry, Skeppy. But the egg sees you as a threat. A threat I have to eliminate.” Skeppy’s eyes widened as red magic built around Bad’s trident.

In the brief moment, Skeppy saw him.

Bad.

A brief moment of the boy he knew well. A boy who loved muffins, didn’t swear, hugged and protected him to bits. The boy who would give up anything and everything for him.

Including his own life.

His face rippled in red as he gave a painful groan, holding his hand to his face. His derp box laid on the veiny ground, covered in his own blood.

“Skeppy! Are you okay?” Puffy rushed to his side, holding his face and looking at the wound. Sam followed after her, shielding them both to prevent any further attacks. Tommy pointed his sword at Bad, trembling but determined and ready to act.

Skeppy’s eyes didn’t leave Bad’s face. He was more baffled and shocked than angry.

Why would he do that? His own friend, deliberately hurting him like that?

It couldn’t be him. Bad wouldn’t do that, Bad wouldn’t try to kill him, Bad isn’t like that…

...right?

“Taerter. Rof efil a gnisol htrow ton. Egatnavda na ta er'yeht.” Bad looked away to Sam.

“Our time is done here. Your days are numbered. Ant, it’s our que to leave.” Bad turned away into the shadows, followed by Ant who growled at them before retreating.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

“All done!” Skeppy’s wound was covered in bandages and sticky bandaids. They were hanging out at Puffy’s house since nobody in the group really had that much medical supplies other than her.

Sam was taping up Skeppy’s box and Tommy was repairing everyone’s weapons.

“Thanks puffy. ‘Preciate it.” He lightly touched the bandages on his face.

“I thought you could break him out of the trance. I mean, you were the reason he joined, to be with you and such.” Skeppy tilted his head in confusion.

“He gave up on trying to save you, and joined the egg to get you back. Our plan was that if you’re back to normal, he’ll stop with the egg stuff. But it seems he’s too far gone to even care.” 

“But, didn’t he start it because of me?”

“That’s all we know right now. I’m sorry, Skeppy.”

He couldn’t cry or scream. All there was was this lump in this throat that refused to leave. His vision blurred with tears that refused to fall. He couldn’t stand looking at anything but the ground, as outside he only saw the very thing that made his friend turn against everyone he stood by.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

“Are you sure you can go by yourself? It's still raining pretty hard and you’re wanted by the eggpire. Your box will get wet.” Sam held a small blue backpack for Skeppy as he put on his infamous, now taped-up derp box.

“I just need some time and space. I have weapons to defend myself if anything at all goes wrong. I’ll be fine.” Skeppy thanked Sam for the bag and ran off into the dreaded evening darkness of the prime path, water and blood pooling and pouring from the bleeding blood vines that crawled over it.

It felt like he was a kid in New York running in the rain in a 90s movie. It felt warm and comfortable to feel it fall all over his clothes and face. He quickly made his way to the abandoned quartz mansion he and his friend built and lived in.

Memes, pictures of his friend, and blood vines filled it. Taking one last look at the house, he ran off to the prison path, the rain and blood on the path pooling in the ocean beside it.

Entering, he pressed the button on the blank wall and waited.

“Skeppy, welcome to the prison. Is this your first time visiting?” Sam’s serious monotone prison guard voice sent shivers down his spine. 

“Yes.”

The wall opened up to a nether portal, making Skeppy step back in surprise.

“Tell me when you go through.” 

Skeppy walked into the portal and was greeted by a small room with the portal in it.

“I’m in!” the pushing of some buttons and levers were heard as Sam signalled him to come through again.

Skeppy walked in and was greeted by Awesamdude in his prison guard armor, holding a book and feather at the front desk.

“What makes you come here at this time?” Sam’s voice only slightly raised to indicate his question.

“Bad is from the same species as Dream. He has to know at least something about this egg and why it’s attracted so many people to serve it and shit.”

“Do you have any other plans?”

“I’m leaving the main part of the server to somewhere else. It’s too dangerous for me to continue staying here when my own friend and his group want me dead.”

“Interesting. Well, Skeppy, just read out this waiver and sign it, and I’ll lead you to him. But first, drop your items in Locker One.”

Under the derp box, the diamond man smiled. He turned his head to the opening locker room and put his things in the chest.

“Also grab the key and place it in your enderchest. You’ll be the only one able to access it.”

Skeppy simply nodded as he followed the instructions given to him.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

The lava finally came down, revealing the very green man that had caused nearly every problem in the server.

And also wanted to put Skeppy in a cage for some weirdass reason.

“Okay, so just move with the platform. Once you get in his cell, the platform will return to me and the lava will come back down, and the gates will fall back down so you can start talking to him. Got it?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Sam.”

Skeppy stepped onto the platform, walking with it as he crossed the lava to get to Dream’s cell. He stepped on the obsidian, allowing the platform to return to the other side as the lava came falling down.

“Tell me when you’re done.” Sam disappeared from sight as the gates fell down, revealing the familiar green man in an orange jumpsuit with the numbers ‘001’ written on the breast pocket.

“Well, well, well,” Dream let out a cackle as Skeppy’s blue eyes focused on him. “Long time no see, diamond boy.”

“Shut up,” He went through his hair with his fingers, looking back at the green-eyed dirty blond. “We need to talk."


	2. The Middle (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betrayal and bloody water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you bitches!
> 
> trigger/content warnings for blood, description of injuries, description and mention of drowning, violence, minor and i guess a bit of medium injury, and body horror! If that makes you uncomfortable, step away because it can get descriptive at times!
> 
> I may cut it into about two parts since this is nearly 10,000 words in this chapter alone.
> 
> I had my friend edit it for me this time (thank you runaway creator) so the english is better and shit!
> 
> Remember this this an alternate universe I created and not an actual part of the lore!!
> 
> Enjoy the update! I'm working on the next chapter! :D

“Are you sure, Skeppy? I can build you a secret house near-”

“I don’t want to put anyone in danger, Sam. And even if I said yes, the bloodvines would find its way into it eventually. This is a single-person journey.” Skeppy was wearing a specially modified diamond armor Sam had made for him to take the journey. His netherite sword and shield were slung on his back. They were at the nether portal near the community house.

The clouds were the color of grey that breezy dawn morning. Everywhere was still drying up from the harsh rainfall it received days before. Puffy and Tommy were in the community house getting materials for him to use. He had a long way to go.

“How far are you trying to get? Technoblade’s house far? My house far?”

“That mountain where Tommy and Tubbo fought Dream times seventeen.” Skeppy pointed to the direction of the ender portal. “A way that it would take literal years for the vines to come near me, depending on the calculations of how fast they can grow and how long they’ll continue to grow before becoming faster or slower.”

Tommy ran towards Skeppy, holding a church prime cloak.

“Why? I already have my armor-”

“Just in case, ya know, shit happens. At this point the bloodvines are a literal, well, health hazard in official terms. Better safe than sorry, big man!” Skeppy gave him a slight smile.

“I guess it could come useful at some point. Thanks, Tommy.” He rolled it up and put it in his bag.

Puffy walked up to the small group. She held out a bronze pocket watch.

“It’s nearly seven. Bad and Ant come out of the egg nest in a few minutes. You need to go.” Puffy held her arms out and hugged the average but lanky derp box man. “Stay safe, dude.”

Puffy’s ears perked up as she released Skeppy from her grasp. “Speak of the devil himself-” She pulled Skeppy away from the place they stood, falling back as a red flashed in front of them.

A red trident ripped through the air, hitting and bouncing off the obsidian of the portal. It threw itself back, entering back and desummoning in the familiar demon’s hands.

“Bad…?” Skeppy looked at his friend though his patched up derp box. His white eyes that once stared eagerly at everything were gone, replaced by red lichen, climbing roots and moss that sprouted out and dug themselves into the skin of his eyelids and tear duct. His horns had bloodvines tangled in it and his hair tips were dark red. All his orifices had visible red veins surrounding them.

“What the fuck happened to your eyes?!” Tommy backed away behind Sam who held his shield up facing Bad. 

“Raen era seriflleh eht…” He coughed up some blood before continuing. “You didn’t forget your existence threatens our empire, did you Skeppy?” 

“I didn’t. That’s why I’m leaving the mainlands.” He was about to walk into the portal when a red appendage slithered up and grabbed his arm.

“Did you think we were going to let you live?” The appendage grew and more bloodvines spouted, grabbing Skeppy’s entire body. One from the back grew a sharper edge, lightly moving to the front of his neck. “To let you walk on these lands without your blood in our hands?”

His feet rose from the ground as Bad raised him with the vines and looked at him with lifeless infested eyes. “That’s too much of a risk for us to take. So let me make this quick and-”

“Put him down. Now.” Bad’s serious expression changed to surprise then smugness. 

“The annoying British child that has caused problems in this server from day one, ain’t it?” His neck started pulsing in red veins, shooting and slithering out of its normal position like a snake. Lowering his neck to get to Tommy’s level, he gave a light chuckle as the kid moved back in fear, dropping his netherite axe along with it. 

“Don’t forget that you’re still on the list, Tommy. Just because my main target is Skeppy at the moment doesn’t mean you’re excluded. Or should I hit two birds with one stone?” Bad’s vines haphazardly picked up Tommy’s axe when a daze of green flashed between everyone, the vines falling limp to the blackstone and cobblestone ground.

“Hurt the kid and I’ll make sure you’re beheaded on the spot.” Sam shifted in front of Tommy, holding his shield out to protect him. Turning back, he whispered something into his ear, causing the child to nod and run away. “Lets handle this matter like adults and adults only.”

“Fine, lets handle this like ‘adults’.” Bad dropped Skeppy down to the floor and retracted his blood vines away from everyone. Looking at Skeppy with a stone cold glare, he held up three fingers.

“Three minute headstart. Your loss if you can’t outrun me.” Skeppy immediately ran towards the nether portal, waving his goodbyes to his friends as he entered the familiar lava lands. Looking to see which direction he should take, he turned towards the west hallways, dashing and trying to clutch onto his already loose bags and gear.

In all honesty, he had no idea where he was going. And he didn’t care. He probably wouldn’t come back anyway, and had a likely chance of Bad killing him before he could get anywhere near safe.

He hopped onto the nether rack and wooden planks and started trying to climb up top of them. If there was cobblestone and planks here, surely people had been here before, right? He had barely entered the nether in the server before, so he didn’t even know where he was going at all really.

Finally, he found himself a portal and jumped into it, blocking it with obsidian as soon as he went through. He looked at his surroundings.

Icy water, spruce trees, sandy ground. At least he was getting somewhere. He hopped away and started running up the coast, spotting a small cottage with another slightly demolished one and a stable near it. 

He was still near.

“Oh Skeppy~” He turned to see a familiar demon drenched in lava and covered in wooden splinters. He was constantly panting and seemed pissed off. Probably fell into the lava by accident.

Curse words were all that was going through Skeppy’s head as he saw the dark figure’s red mossy wings spread out and fly towards him head first. He took to the nearby woods as the demon pursued him.

Was he going to die? 

Was this the end of him?

He was only able to get into the outer parts before he felt a small blade force itself into the back of his neck as he let out a squeal. Pulling out a netherite axe, he turned and struck the vine attempting to stab him. The red appendage fell onto the floor. Bad floated behind him, staring at him with dead cold eyes.

“I sadly don’t need to finish the job. It’s only a matter of time until you collapse from blood loss. Especially moving through a dense dark forest, I'd bet on about two days.” Laughing, he took for the stars, flying away and leaving Skeppy in the bloody mess of a sunset and starting flurry.

Skeppy held up his hands to his face. Taking one, he brushed it at the back of his neck and looked at it again.

“Red.” He mumbled to himself. Blood dripped from it, staining the snow on the ground. He roughly cleaned it on a tree and continued walking through the forest.

He was going to leave the mainland.

Farther than Techno’s house. Farther than the mountain on which Tommy and Tubbo fought Dream. Farther than anywhere anyone in this godforsaken server has ever gone.

Tears blurred his vision as he made his way through the ferns and berry shrubs.

He was going to miss his house. His bedwars islands. His friend.

He was going to find a place somewhere. Some place far, far away, to live. That it would take literal days to get to. That would protect him. That would keep him safe.

He wasn’t going to die at the hands of a parasitic demonic egg that hated the color blue for some weird reason. He wasn’t.

The snow falling became harsher and heavier, small balls of hail coming down with it.

His own friend tried to kill him. The only person he gave a shit about in this hellhole betrayed him. And now he was on his hit list. The same guy who built his now-infested quartz mansion tried to kill him.

Or was it the egg possessing him? Like it somewhat did with himself? Bad really wouldn’t try to kill his friend, would he?

He couldn’t. A tear fell from his face, a tear of hope, that maybe, maybe Bad was truly still inside there, struggling to keep in control like he once did.

Hope was all he needed to continue moving. Assumptions. Predictions. Hope. He wasn’t going to come back for a long time, maybe ever. Better to assume than to speculate.

His breath cracked with cold air as he found himself in the clearing of the spruce forest. He was getting tired. And dizzy.

His neck hurt like hell.Simply breathing was a grueling task. His fingers and feet were numb. He looked up at the now night sky in the blizzard. The dark silhouettes of trees guarded the stars and moon in the air. Losing his balance, he fell onto the snow floor. 

“It’s so cold here…” His breathing became hitched and fast, his arms shaking like crazy. 

Maybe Bad was right. He was going to die. The armor he wore barely provided heat and weighed his body down even more. His legs were probably limp at this point.

That’s when he remembered.  
Scrambling through his bag, he opened up the clothes department and dug out for the infamous purple and white church prime cloak Tommy had given him before he left. He took off his armor, shivering furiously until finally he wriggled his way into the cloak. 

It would take some time before he regained his body heat. Moving towards a bunch of trees, he settled and cleaned up his neck wound with some snow. Pink and red stained the white floor, but he didn’t mind and covered his cleaned up wound with a piece of his hoodie he cut off. 

Bad would think he died. His friends would eventually too. That would stop him from being chased by the eggpire at least.

Arranging his items, he snuggled near a tree, placed a few torches nearby, and fell asleep, curling up with his bag embraced.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Numbness.

Despite the cloak saving Skeppy from the cold, it couldn’t save the numbness in his legs.

In his arms. In his fingers. In his face.

The sun hadn’t rose yet and snow was everywhere. He couldn’t even tell where he came from or where he was because snow covered everything. A light flurry was falling in the morning hours. All he could do was move and hope for the best.

“I need to get out of here…” The box on his head couldn’t save his crackling painful breaths and the freezing of any spec of liquid on his face. 

“I have to get somewhere…” Dropping his bags and only carrying his fire aspect axe, he looked around, trying to find some sort of animal in the woods. He was able to spot a sheep but it despawned in a few seconds of reaching it for some weird reason. He caught a cow but he only got leather. Taking a tiny break, he looked around to examine his surroundings until he looked ahead, where he saw ice.

A river, strong and a bit frozen on the top. Under it, he could spot some fish and seaweed swaying in the current.

“I’m gonna get ya!” Jumping into the water with a big splash, he looked through the currents, searching, trying to find something to swing at. A salmon and cod fell victim to his axe, floating back under the ice as freshly cooked meat. 

Skeppy swam back to the ice level to get back up when he realized his problem. 

Yeah, the cloak was warm, but he underestimated how cold it actually was. The ice had frozen back to normal nearly completely, and panic set in to Skeppy’s eyes and his floated around, trying to get things under control.

He only had a few bubbles left.

He threw his fists at the ice, going through it. It didn’t go through enough for Skeppy to get out or breath in, but it did get his hand stuck in the hole.

Annoyed and desperate, he used his free submerged hand to grab his axe and slammed its blade into the ice, breaking it open.

Skeppy climbed out of the water in a frenzy, soaking wet and terrified. He looked around and put his hand in the water, pulling out two pieces of cooked fish.

Nibbling at it slowly, he walked back to his makeshift base and got his bags and weapons, continuing the journey.

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There wasn’t much of a way he could get himself away from the mainland faster. He was injured and tired. Not to mention wanted as well. He had to leave, he had to move away, somehow.

Mobs and more densely-filled biomes often got in his way and he was forced to either fight, cut down trees, or take another route.

Pausing for a break, he usually went off to kill some animals for food nearby or stack up on wood and materials. The closest house was hundreds of miles off, so not much he could do to get things back.

The snow was starting to become thinner as he walked, and the spruce trees were disappearing. Sand started to replace the ground, making him optimistic that he was getting somewhere with his walking.

That's when he came to a dead end. A cliff with sharp jagged rocks appeared before him, sea waters playfully crashing on it with no care in the world.

The end of the mainland. The point no one has ever reached before. Away from L’manburg. Away from Snowchester. Away from the egg. Away from the Innit Hotel. Away from the mansion. Away from his friends. Away from Bad. Away from, well, pretty much everything he’s known and held close to him.

The horizon contrasted with blues and oranges and pinks and whites as the majestic sun opened its golden eye to wake up the world. He was going places he didn’t know at all, and no one knew as well.

“I still need to move off,” He checked his compass. “I’m still near the disc mountain.” There was no way he could move off in the state he was without getting injured or killed, and the nearest beach was several hundred miles away. 

The wind blew his cloak around as dawn rose from the sky and clouds. He sat and put his stuff aside, pulling out a notebook and pen and scribbled down plans.

“A boat would crash on the rocks and jumping off would be literal suicide.” He crossed out his ideas and groaned in frustration, lying on his back and looking at the sky.

An enderman teleported nearby, holding what seemed to be a grass block in its hands, Before he could lock eyes with it, it teleported away in a frenzy.

“Holy shit.” Opening up and digging into his bag, he pulled out an ender pearl, crafting table, a leash and some wood.

“This is a one shot chance…” He placed the crafting table on the ground and made a spruce boat. Tying his bags and boxed to the boat with the leash, he held onto the boat and stanced the best he could, holding the enderpearl carefully to look around on where to aim.

Before doing so, he looked back at the shrunken biome, his only happy homeland. Waving at it with his pearl hand, he threw it as far as he could, making it hit water and instantly pulling him and his boat off the edge. 

He used his now free hand and held onto the boat like his life depended on it. Looking at the rough sharp rocks he was passing over, reality hit him as his face slammed into the water where the pearl was, his boat flying with him.

The water was a bit choppy, just enough for him to be able to flip the boat over and climb inside. He held his hands up and screamed into the early morning, tears of happiness and relief falling down. Taking one last look and wave behind him, he started rowing the boat away from the cliffside, moving out to the ocean in search of new lands.

Carrying a bunch of enchanted books, weapons and totems of undying, Tommy was running. 

Blood stained the prime path like wine on a wedding dress, the sky bled and weeped, and the heat was nearing unbearable. 

Bloodvines. They had come alive. They were everywhere. 

The vines wanted him. His blood spilled on the ground. They were trying to get him. They chased him.

He could run to a nether portal. They were all blocked with some weird form of red obsidian mixed with ruby and blood. Making one and lighting one up would get it blocked in seconds of creation.

Making a swift turn to the path leading to the mansion, He pulled out his trident and soared in the air, pulling a water bucket to aim for the boat docked.

He felt something grab his legs, pulling him down swiftly. He let out a groan in pain as he was swung into the prison wall and miner fatigue three hit him nearly unconscious.

“Tommy!” Puffy got out of the boat and ran towards the prison wall where Tommy had fallen.

The vines were getting closer to them and their boat.

“Tommy! Over here! Quick!” The boy tiredly crawled over to the sheep pirate. Giving him a look of sympathy, she picked him up and slung him onto her shoulders. Puffy held out a sword to guard them as she made her way back to the boat and put Tommy on the wooden floor in an ill attempt at recovery.

“C’mon! Lets go before- wait!” Sam jumped out of the boat docked in the crimson red lake, wielding a fire aspect two sword knife looking over Tommy. 

The bloodvines were vicious and angry, swinging in any direction that caused chaos and destruction.

“Go to the main deck.”

“What do you mean? Let’s start moving, Sam-” Puffy was about to steer the boat when Sam stopped her.

“In the main deck. Now.”

Not wanting to see him past his limit, they ran into the main deck where Puffy placed a torch and slammed the door shut. The engine in the backroom started, and soon, the boat was moving.

Tommy only clutched at his legs which the bloodvines had grabbed. It had red rashes on it, and itched like hell. The only other people there were Ponk and Fundy but both were sleeping in the mass of cloaks and covers they brought along with them. Red water got into the floor, causing Tommy to back away to near the cloaks.

Time felt long and painful while they waited, the silence could slice his ears open if it could.

“You can come out now.” Tommy opened the door of the deck.

What he saw was… quite abnormal.

The sky was a darker crimson than it was before, raining a mixture of blood, dirt and tears. The waters they were on were darker as well.

Sam was on the floor, his arm which he held his sword some hours or minutes before was replaced by a growing red vine. It was the only part of his body moving, blood soaked where he laid.

Tommy, scared and in panic, slammed the door shut and looked behind to say something when he froze in fear.

Everyone else that was in the deck with him was gone. Puffy was lying on the church prime cloaks, her leg cut off but nothing growing, probably due to the cloaks. Fundy was in the corner, head slouched, tail a blood vine. Ponk was lying on the supplies, his blood covering the chests he was on. No visible tentacles were present.

Tommy turned to the other side in hopes of trying to register what was going on when Red Sam stood in the doorway, his body only supporting itself from the moving bloody tendril.

“Ymmot, gge eht setah ro sevol rehtie enoyreve.” Sam’s normal serious voice was changed to that of a thousand demons, or what seemed like a thousand demons, talking in sync. 

“W-What do you mean? What did you do with my friends? Tell me or- or I’ll stab you!” He was scared shitless but managed to point a pocket knife at him while shaking horribly.

“Sdneirf ruoy ot did i tahw nees ev'uoy ees i. Niaga uoy ees ot ecin s'ti. Seniv fo rekaerb dna sdnob fo regnirb. Revres eht fo elixe. Grubnam'l fo tnediserp eciv remrof. Ymmot, ymmot, ymmot, ho.” It outstretched it’s arms as if expecting an embrace.

“What the fuck?” Tommy took a step back but bumped into something. He turned his head back. His friends stared at him with dead lifeless white eyes, twisted into some sort of amalgamation from the bloodvine infection. All he could make out were their eyes, tentacles, and a bit of Fundy’s fur before closing the door in disgust and fear.

“As I was saying, you can only hate the egg or love the egg. And eventually, everyone comes to love the egg. And it’s been like that for a long time until you touched it.” Its tentacles made a rootlike pattern in the air and it gave a scream of frustration. “And you didn’t feel anything. And now the cycle, the order, is distorted. No matter how much I try, you won’t seem to make up your mind.” Tommy shrugged.

“I just don’t feel anything, Eggman.”

“And that’s why you have to die.” One of it’s tentacles grabbed Tommy and held him in the air. It moved towards the boat’s edge and held him over the waters as the boat moved.

“What are you doing? Leave me alone!” He struggled to get out but to no avail. 

“The eggpire cannot progress if you still live, unless...” The mask that usually covered what used to be Sam slipped off, revealing slimy white eyes that stared lasers into his soul.

“...you join us…?” Tommy looked at it with a fearful glare, shaking his head.

“Never!”

He was carried farther off over the waters by the tentacle.

“Oh well. Our empire’s future will improve greatly with you out of the way. Tinniymmot, eybdoog.”

He was raised high into the air before being dunked into the red water. Tommy panicked as the tentacles pushed him down more into the depths, not allowing him to swim or breathe.

“No!-” Water filled his lungs as the tentacles gave way and left the water, but he was too weak to swim or even move. Darkness revealed itself as he gave up on trying.

His friends. His home. His pets.

He would never see them again. His vision became blurred and the last thing he heard before he blacked out was the wailing of demons and bubbles rising from the water.

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“How are you feeling big man?” Tommy opened his eyes and observed his surroundings. Spruce floors and stone brick walls. Warm lantern light. A familiar ram boy. Purple beds. Some medicine and a cozy purple blanket.

“We were so worried when we got you out of the water and you were unconscious with bloody vines trying to hold you down. Apart from you, we didn’t really have any major casualties. Everyone, well, I think everyone who is either neutral or hates it, is safe. Punz and Purpled and Ant with Bad are still there.” Tubbo wore his wooly fluffy snowcoat. “I’ll tell the others you’re awake now. Be right back.” He left and closed the door, leaving Tommy to his own thoughts.

“This is a hospital set up of some kind…” He looked at the blanket. “And this feels church primey.”

“Was everything that happened...real, then?” He got out of the bed and looked down at his feet. The leg the vines held him in his dream was bandaged up. He was wearing a simple woolen shirt. His normal red and white shirt was outside drying on a clothes lines with some other clothes from all the water and blood.

His racoon tail and ears were still intact. So was his face as he looked in the mirror. Feeling accomplished, he opened the door and went outside.

“Tommy! Did you recover well? I’m so glad you're okay!” Puffy hugged him and put him back on the ground.

“Hey Puffy, what exactly happened that I’m like this?”

“Well, Bad started attacking us and it led us to flee to Snowchester but for some reason it wanted you the most… Tommy mouthed an ‘o’ before nodding.

“So, what are we doing now?”

“I’m trying to make a cure that will work in the short term, and then I’m going to work on a long-term one. It's just that I have limited prime water and a lot has gone around to cure the people we ran away with.” Sam came into their conversation, wearing a lab coat stained in different reds, blues and blacks.

“We’re setting up part of Snowchester as a camp until we find a place where the egg can’t reach to reside. Skeppy has probably found a place to stay. Haven’t seen that guy in ages.” Puffy shrugged. 

“People speculate that he died, though I see that unlikely for someone who has barely lost any of his lives yet. Even then, he would only lose one life. I think Bad is still in there, though I’m not sure. Probably either trapped in the nether or living in secret in some part of the mainlands. Even if I tried, I have no way to check up on him without portals.” Sam pulled out a map of the mainlands and started looking at it.

Tommy soon got bored of all the egg talk and decided to check up on Tubbo and Ranboo, who were making another tent for the arriving people.

“Hey, Ranboo!” Tommy waved as they nailed down the second to last peg for the tent to go up.

“Hey Tommy. How are you doing? Feeling better?”

“I can walk. And I can talk. I think I am doing pretty well!”

“Well that makes my day way less worrying. We still need to set up the walls and clear land and you’re not supposed to be helping so I guess you can watch and talk?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be at Techno’s house?”

“Well, yes, but the portals were blocked and I was visiting Tubbo at the time when he told me about everything. It was quite an evening. Skies red. Water nearly black. Hallucinations for nearly everyone who got attacked by the vines. Crazy.” 

“I don’t understand why we can’t just move away so the vines won’t reach us. They’re quite literally across the waters!” Tubbo budged in.

“The vines are slow in growing, especially with everyone leaving the area. I’d say we’re good for about a few weeks. Sam also mentioned working on some medicine for it. I guess that's his reasoning.”

“I don’t understand why we can’t just nuke the damn place!”

“It could hurt and kill people and things we’ve worked on! The hotel, the prime church, everything!”

“Apart from flooding the server which we do not have the time and resources for to neutralize the vines, bombing it is our best shot. It's the core and seed of the egg and hey! Everyone lives at the end, except Bad or someone else probably.”

Tommy frowned, jumping away from them and looked towards the bridge. Foolish and Jack were dismantling it.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's wrong with the bridge? It's our only way back that's convenient!” Tommy stood in front of them to stop them while waving his arms.

“The vines act like tentacles and a crawling plant. We can’t afford to ruin our safety measures. Even if we had some use for it, we're not going to use it for a very long time. We can build it back even.” Foolish pushed Tommy away to continue mining the bridge away.

Tommy ran off, looking for somewhere to just calm down from everything.

Snowchester becoming a temporary camp, the main SMP being taken over by the vines and egg, the egg wanting him from some weird unknown reason.

It was a lot to take him. Can’t he have a break? Why can’t he have a break from it? Everytime he gets out of a situation he just ends up slamming face first into another one.

Running into the spruce woods, he found a tree and sat down. Taking full heavy breaths in the cold, he looked up at the pink sky. The red was still disappearing, but he thought it wouldn’t leave anytime soon.

Getting up, he ran down the forest, swaying though trees, jumping over rocks and hopping over rivers.

“The nuke…” ashes scattered around as he walked towards the bedrock revealing the crater Tubbo had made while testing some of his nukes.

It was virtually impossible for them to clear the egg all by themselves without messing up or spreading it even further. 

“Surely we won’t have to resort to nuking the place… right?” Tommy sat at the edge, watching it silently.

“If it comes to a point we can’t control it, yes.” Tommy turned around. Sam was holding his trident and a purple blanket, looking into the crater beside him. “Those nukes can really kill people. It’s one of the only weapons strong enough to even dent those things.”

“What happens after we nuke it? Destroying all our homes, hard work and time?” Tommy looked into the shaded goggles of Sam’s mask, expecting a clear answer. 

“I-I honestly don’t know, Tommy. Only time will tell where this takes us.” He passed him the blanket. “Let’s get back to camp. Weather in these months around here is hard to travel in and someone can easily get lost or succumb to the cold.”

“Okay.” Wearing the cold blanket over his arms, he jumped up and followed Sam back to Snowchester.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> If you want to reach out to me, I'm @mxdevilishere on wattpad and twitter! Do not repost any of my work anywhere else!
> 
> I am going to post this on wattpad after I finish the story up so please be patient!
> 
> Thank you for all the support and motivation to continue writing! I really appreciate it!


	3. The Middle (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A journey across glaciers and waters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you bitches!
> 
> trigger/content warnings for derealization, blood, description of injuries, description and mention of drowning, violence, minor and i guess a bit of medium injury, and body horror!
> 
> Again.
> 
> I had my friend edit it for me this time (thank you runaway creator) so the english is better and shit!

The ice was endless.

Skeppy tried his best to navigate it without flipping the glaciers over and falling into the waters.

Drowneds circled his movements underwater, gurgling and waiting to strike. 

He had his boat and items on him since he couldn’t cross the floating glaciers.

The sky was pink, which was quite weird, but he ignored it and continued to cross. 

He hopped on another one when a trident immediately ripped through the one he was on, causing him to fall into the water.

The drowneds immediately swam towards him, tridents and fishing rods in hand. He immediately swam up and grabbed a piece of ice debris and attempted to climb out when a drowned’s hook caught him with its fishing rod and pulled him back.

“Leave me alone!” Skeppy hit the drowned with his axe, causing it to back away. A trident went through the water, one of the blades narrowly cutting into his wrists. 

Yelping and feebly attempting to swim up for air, he dropped his axe, falling into the darker depths. 

“Argh-!” His cold, frosty, and wet hands grabbed onto one of the glaciers, pulling himself up with all the strength he still had. Another trident impaled itself into his leg as he got out, causing him to scream in pain as he finally got out of the water completely. A drowned attempted to climb out of the water hole, getting slammed in full blunt force with an ice rock that broke on impact with its skull. Dirty ice and brownish-red blood covered part of the hole as the drowneds disappeared back in the deep.

He was tired. And weak. Really tired and weak. He crawled painfully off the glacier he was lying on, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

“It should despawn in several minutes.” He whispered, still trying to crawl and continue his journey. His only useful weapon was gone and he was gravely injured.

In the middle of nowhere.

His hands stung like someone stabbed it with thousands of small cold needles. His fingers looked redder and darker. His eyes were glassy and bloodshot.

He collapsed under himself, the pain and cold becoming too much to bear together. The trident had despawned, but he still felt the points ripping through his skin.

“I’m sorry, Sam… I’m sorry, Puffy… I’m sorry, Bad…” Tears fell down his face as he hugged his cloak tightly, looking at the stars as the sun set.

“I wasn’t… I wasn’t strong enough.”

“Yes you are.” Skeppy looked to see...Bad?!

He looked normal except for wearing a blue robe.

“Are you here to kill me? I don’t care much anymore. Do it.” Bad frowed, before bending down and cupping his face.

“Seppy, I know you’re strong enough. Sure, you may have gotten attacked several times by hostile mobs, but I know you’re strong in there. I just know it.”

“But I’m nearly dead! I have frostbite! I can barely breathe or see!” Bad’s image became blurry to Skeppy as he gave him a warm smile.

“A blizzardy rain is starting in a few hours. Haily and cold. You could die out here.”

“How do you even-”

“There's an icy island after the glaciers. You can stay there temporarily and recover.”

“Will you ever come back?” Skeppy looked into what he could make out were Bad’s eyes, who, with a sympathetic look, hugged him.

“I’m only what you think of me as. I am not the real Bad, Skeppy. I cannot guarantee the real Bad right now would welcome you in open arms. Hell, he would probably kill you.”

Skeppy’s warm, teary eyes were replaced with sadness and distraught. Standing up limply, he looked at the demon with a serious but warm glare. Using his warmer hand, he put his hand on his face. It went through, like a ghost.

Sad, he looked to the floor, frowning. He gave him a pat on the back. Bad looked at his leg wound and sighed.

“May I suggest an apple? Ooo, how about golden one?” Bad passed him a god apple, the ravenet’s eyes widening and looking at him with an expression of shock.

“How did- But you said-”

“You have to go now… The hailstorm is near..” And with that, ‘Bad’ disappeared, leaving Skeppy alone on the floating glacier.

“Bad must still be in there…” The very thought of his friend still being alive filled him with happiness and determination. He looked at the god apple ‘Bad’ had given him. It was still there. It was real. The egg was still real, the mainlands were still real. Hell, he was still real. Unfortunately, so were his problems.

He placed the god apple onto the ground, and tore it open using some ice bits he found. He poured some of its juices on his wounded leg, and the last remaining bit on his neck before throwing it in the water. His leg wound sparkled before closing and appearing like nothing ever even happened.

“Who was that, then?” He looked around, searching for ‘Bad’. All he saw were glaciers, water and the horizon.

He was nearly out of the glacier waters. About a half mile or more before he could get into the water.

“Start going. Now.” Bad’s voice echoed in his head as he slung his bags and weapons and started running off of the glacier he was in. It had started drizzling a bit already. Skeppy could see a small ice island off the horizon. Smiling and determined, he continued running, letting his face feel the cold breeze as he started descending into smaller glaciers.

A trident narrowly missed his head as he turned his head while running. A drowned had come up, aiming for him with it’s trident with a nautilus shell in its other hand. 

Happy and vibing, Skeppy turned his body and threw an ender pearl over it.Teleporting behind the drowned, he used his sword to slice it neck, brownish red blood splattering everywhere.

Skeppy pushed its body into the water and collected the nautilus shell and trident it had in its hands.

“I heard you can fly with these…” he put the shell in his bag and aimed the trident in the air. With one powerful jab, he threw himself across the glacier waters.

“Holy shit-” Pulling out his boat, he prepared himself and fell face first into the water. Skeppy placed his boat back in and got in. Dumping his things onto the back space, he took a blanket out of one of the bags and covered his things with it.

Turning his head, he looked back at the glaciers, smiling. He made it out. He was finally back on the seas. The increasingly violent rain disturbed his happy thoughts.

The harsh waters stabbed his neck like crazy.

Heeding ‘Bad’s’ warning, he turned towards the icy islands he could make out in the storm, silently praying he’d get there before it was too late.

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“Have you ever had a friend you cared about a lot, Mr. Snowman?” Skeppy laid on the icy ground. Starved of human interaction, he had made a snowman to rant to. Quite sad, but it was better than nothing.

All he got was a small sound of shifting snow in return. He gave a sigh, sitting up and opening his bag up. He pulled out a withering poppy. Holding it up to the snowman, he frowned, laying back on the cold ground.

“I remember one day, when we were still close, we went flower picking to decorate a house being built.” He fiddled with its darkened petals. “And he gave this poppy to me and was like, “There are red and blue flowers. I want to give you the red one so it’ll remind you of me.’” 

He gave a wide smile, remembering everything like it just happened. “So I gave him a cornflower and said, “There are red and blue flowers. I want to give you the blue one so it’ll remind you of me.’ I don’t know if he still has the cornflower, but I kept that poppy with me forever.” The waves crashed against the ice platform they sat on as he spoke.

“I miss that muffin man so much. Light of my fucking days.” He laid down at the entrance of their ‘cave’ lazily watching the waves crash around the frozen ocean.

“Do you think we’ll ever leave here?” Small schools of cod swam around in their view. “Will we ever leave these cold lands and oceans? Is this all there is outside of the mainland?” It only stared blankly at him.

“Surely not. Bad told me to recover. Not a place I can actually live in.” He groaned in frustration. “I don’t have wood and my boat can barely cross here. I’m fucked.”

He got his bags and got out of his residing hole, sliding out. 

“Getting out of here through trident would probably kill me more than it would help me.” This trident isn’t just made out of air and ice.” He put his hand on his chin, trying to think. “Swimming itself it already dangerous with the drowneds around… unless…”

He dug into his bag and pulled out a notebook. Pushing past the pages of his previous scribbles, he pulled out his quill and started doodling.

“Are polar bears hostile? Or neutral? Probably neutral I think. Should we give it fish? It might like fish!” he scribbled some more and walked along with the snow sliding snowman.

He gasped and pointed a head to a furry blob in the distance.

“A polar bear! C’mon, Snowman, let’s go get it!” He pulled out a piece of raw cod, running towards the bears with open arms.

The smaller ones backed away in fear, their mother slowly turned and growling at the slight of Skeppy.

“Uh.. Snowman, I don’t think they like me that much…” The adult bear growled at him angry, charging at him in full force.

Skeppy screamed, dropping his items and running away from the overly protective mother bear. The snowman watched as he ran around the icy island trying to avoid the bear’s wrath.

Familiar greenish blue fleshy skin caught his eye as he ran. Light blue eyes stabbed into his back like a laser.

“Snowman! Go into the house!” Skeppy made a swift turn off to join the snowman, eyeing the drowneds as they rushed for shelter. Snowman didn’t turn that direction however. Snowman turned towards the other side, sliding across with his snowy body. 

“Snowman, wait! What- Where are you going? Come back and-” Familiar sounds screamed into his ears as he hid in their hollow icy shelter preparing for what was coming next.

Water splashed everywhere, several tridents flying through the air. Skeppy closed his eyes and ears with his hands as he waited for it to stop. It didn’t stop how he wanted it to stop.

He heard the trident sound again.

And again. 

And again. 

And again. 

He didn’t even know how much time had passed. Feeling confident they were gone, he came out of his hole. When he arrived, the outside was a bloody mess.

Several tridents were comfortably sitting on the side of the mother polar bear.

Blood spatter covered the poor animal. It’s eyes were dull and dead. So was it itself. He walked up to it and touched its fur. Cold as the ocean.

“I’m sorry, polar bear. I’m sorry I disturbed your peace and got you killed. Now your kids have no mother to guide them in the harsh icy oceans, and I’m to blame.” He pressed it’s head against it. “Forgive me, wherever you are.” Getting up, he looked around for his friend.

“Snowman? Snowman, where are you? Are you okay?” Skeppy turned to look around for it. It was nowhere in sight.

“Snowman?!? Snowman!” He screamed for it again. No response. Lights lit up in the distance as he searched for it. An orange figure popped up in the far horizon as Skeppy screamed, dropping everything he focused on at the moment and ran towards it.

“Snowman… Are you there?” He hoped he was still alive. His only friend. His companion in the cold lands. Instead, he was met with a sad depressing scene.

The snowman’s head was mushed, its snow melted into ice. In what remained of it’s head, two polar bear cubs snuggled, seemingly unharmed.

“Snowman… Snowman, please… Wake up…” He hugged its mushy pumpkin guts, tears falling down his battered face.

He pet the cubs and held them up, carrying them up in his arms.

“I am obligated to become your new father. Get used to me… uh… hmm.. What are your names?” He looked deep into the polar bear cubs’ faces. One had a ripped ear and one had a small scar on its face.

“I think I’ll call ripped ear bear Andy and the one with the scar… Scar! C’mon, we have a lot to do tomorrow. Particularly leaving this cold hellhole.”

The cubs were hesitant at first but stayed at his side as soon as they saw the mutilated body of their mother laying on the floor. One sniffed it and growled at the sea as they walked past.

It was hard for Skeppy to pretend that he didn’t immediately start loving the cubs. They were fluffy and small and that's all he needed to constantly make him smile in the darker nights.

After retiring to the icy cave he stayed in, he snuggled up the cubs with his blanket and went outside. It was as dark as a raven’s wing with the exception of stars glittering and sparkling in it. The endless view of ice islands and glaciers made him sad.

“Where do I go beyond this? Is there anything beyond this?” He sat at the edge of his ice island, watching the waves calming rift.

“Lands of many riches and trees await you. But first you need to leave here.” 

“To where?” He recognized the voice of the weird hallucination of Bad he had last time.

“You should collect those nautilus shells the drowneds have. I’m sure you can make a water breathing conduit and find a way to move it and swim around!” He turned to bad with a surprised then mischievous smile.

“That’s a great idea, Bad! I mean, mind-Bad! I’m sure I can-”

“But beware of the Heart of Ice curse while you try to find it here.”

“Curse? Sounds cool. I just want to leave here though. Is that too much to ask?”

“The mobs attacking you would say yes.” Skeppy let out a little chuckle as ‘Bad’ sat down beside him.

“You know what, Bad? You may not be the real Bad, but when we get all of this over with, I wanna set up a bakery.”

‘A bakery you say? Sounds quite interesting.”

“Yeah! And we’ll make cakes and bread and build a cottage really far away from everyone and just live our lives, just like we said we would. ‘Bad’ gave him a smile.

“I’m sure Bad would love that.”

“I would. He really would.”

After spending several minutes watching the stars, he waved ‘Bad’ goodnight and went back into the cave.

He lit a small fire with some of the remaining wood he had, warming up the cubs and himself while he spent part of the night sharpening his axe.

“Tomorrow is gonna be long as hell.” He curled up and fell asleep, snuggling his cloak.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

No drowned with a nautilus shell was safe in Skeppy’s sight. The slightest sight of the shell caused him to one shot drowneds who held it.

Brown blood was splattered on his battered cloak, and with the help of the two polar bear cubs, he was able to sniff them out and kill them.

He was not showing mercy to any of them. Not after what they’d done. He had to get out, he wanted to get out. If it meant seeing his friends again, he would do it in a heartbeat, not looking twice. 

He had worn double vests that day. It was colder than usual, and he didn’t want to get caught off guard by a sinister drowned.

Shell after shell, Skeppy scampered on the glacier lands like a rogue wolf. Some would say he was the Snow Prince because of it.

Skeppy was already getting quite tired of searching; he had itch fish zombie blood all over him and he was still looking for two more.

He saw a drowned standing in the distance at the edge of a large glacier, holding two nautilus shells in its hands. Though he was happy for the easy target, something felt off.

“Andy. Scar. Stay here. I’ll be back.” Skeppy moved towards the figure, drawing out his sword when it turned to look at him and for the first time in his life he’d seen, smile.

“We’ve been waiting for you Skeppy. It’s so nice to see you.” It grinned sinisterly, laughing even as the waters under the glacier they stood on started bubbling up.

He jumped off just in time as an amalgamation of drowneds broke the glacier up and up, sending pieces flying through the air.

“It’s been quite a long time since a human has crossed these seas. We look forward to talking to you.” The amalgamation spoke like thousands of drowning tired people with a mixture of moans and wails and gurgles.

The amalgamation pulled itself over to the nearest glacier, breaking and diving down into the waters again. It was snakelike in it’s appearance and movement.

“What the hell are you? Stay away from me and the cubs!” Skeppy backed away, the snake simply grinned and dove back down. Skeppy quickly got on the platform where the cubs were as the glaciers near it were pulled down.

“A fresh head from a coldened human is all we need.” It slapped Skeppy against the glacier he stood, flinging him into the waters. Skeppy gasped for air and quickly swam up and got on a glacier before the snake could do anything. It simply grinned.

“Do not resist the cold. It will welcome you in open arms, Skeppy.” Shards of broken tridents were hurled towards him, scraping his neck and stabbing into his right arm and leg.

“Don’t make it harder than it already is.” Skeppy limped away quickly, but the ice debris was faster. He was hit off the glacier and into the sea. The snake hurled towards him as he spotted it’s glowing necklace. A conduit? He breathed in heavily as it surrounded him.

“Embrace the cold.” The snake suddenly disappeared, but the light did not. He could still breath.

“Seppy!” He turned to above him, the familiar blue robed demon swimming down.

“Bad! Help me!” He reached his arms out, embracing the white haired man.

“Oh Skeppy…” ‘Bad’ swam down to where he was, smiling and grinning intensely.

“What’s so funny?” The blue robed demon pulled him closer and held a small but decorated ice shard in his hand beside his already wounded neck.

“...Bad?” He tried to swim off, but Bad’s hands had an iron grip on his cloak.

“I’m sorry it had to be this way. But we can still make ice cottages here, can’t we?”

“What the fuck? Was all that helping me for nothing? Was it all a ruse? Was it-”

“Don’t make it difficult, Skeppy. Just let me-”

“You’re physical. You can hold me. You didn’t say language. You-”

“Skeppy. Please don’t make this harder I’m begging you-”

‘Bad’s eyes opened in shock as Skeppy slashed the shard blade away from his hand and held his netherite sword onto his neck.

“What’s Bad’s full name then, imaginary Bad?”

“...”

“I’m sorry it had to come to this Bad. I’m sorry.”

With a single blow, ‘Bad’ screamed, his neck bleeding brownish red as he drifted lifelessly into the depths. His recognizable black skin and white hair changed into a greenish blue zombie that looked like it was drained of all its blood, seaweed and algae covered hair Skeppy watched it all unfold with no emotion. Just, disappointment.

“Why do you have to make things so difficult, Skeppy? We tried our best. Illusions, hallucinations, real and fleshed, why are you so greedy?” The snake’s silhouette circled him, synchronized wails and gurgles filled his ears.

“I want to find a new home that's not here.”

“You can find a home at the bottom of the ocean! I’m sure the others will welcome you in open arms.”

“No! I want a home where I can visit my friends. Where I can meet them again. Where I can… the egg.”

“But why would you want to go to a place where everyone assumes you're dead and your bestest best friend wants you dead? Doesn’t sound like a homely place to me.”

“A cold ice coffin several hundred feet down in icy water doesn’t sound very homely either.”

The snake groans in frustration.

“You’ve left us no choice.” The snake disappeared again, and a cold needle-stabbing pain caused Skeppy to scream as he looked behind him. The drowned that tried to impersonate Bad, though in severe stages of decomposition, held and twisted the ice shard blade in the middle of his back near his stomach.

He threw his sword in its direction, obliterating it’s mushy skull and pulled the blade off before attempting to swim to the surface.

“The greedy and the ungrateful get the curse. Too bad you’re one of them.” The drowned laughed a laugh of triumph and satisfaction, breaking away before becoming simple seafoam floating around in the water. 

Skeppy climbed up to a glacier but fell back into the waters as the snake broke it with a swipe of its tail.

“Your heart is ours, Your soul is ours, your body is ours, STOP BEING UNGRATEFUL AND GREEDY!” The snake’s anger caused the waves to rage, the clouds became dark and started raining.

“Why are so you fucking difficult?!” Skeppy was swept into the waves, holding onto the snake’s drowned limb scales for dear life as it lamented.

He caught a grip and started climbing onto the snake, enough to reach its main neck. The snake saw him and swatted him away again, landing him into the water but not before giving him blunt force trauma from hitting a glacier before the water.

He weakly climbed onto the glacier again, but collapsed as soon as he got onto it.

The snake circled the glacier from underneath it before moving around a bit to face Skeppy face to face.

“Any last words, Skeppy?” The snake grinned. “You’ll be so much happier with us. I don’t understand what we don’t have that you want. We have the purest of gold and the shiniest of emeralds. Palace after palace after palace full of all your worldly desires.” It took a small breath. “Tell us Skeppy. What do you want that we don’t have?”

Skeppy, who was nearly unconscious from the hit, looked up at the snake with tired fading eyes.

“You may have-ow- everything but there is one thing you don’t have.” He held up the ice shard the drowned used on him mere minutes before. “An asker.”

With that, Skeppy lunged at the snake with all his remaining energy, stabbing it in it’s gums. It gave a high pitched synchronized scream in pain. The part where they were stabbed started turning into ice, and soon they were fully ice.

It shattered like fallen glass on impact from a raindrop, its pieces falling into the cold waters.

He weakly smiled. Was he gonna live? Was he gonna die? He didn’t know. All he heard was the whimpering cubs, the harsh waves, and the rain as he slipped into darkness.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Sand.

Sand? Since when? From where?

Seafoam covered him from top to bottom as he got out of the water and looked around. The cubs were on a boat with his things. The temperature was pretty cold, but manageable.

He had gotten out. Out of the glaciers and ice. Pulling the polar bears and boat to the shore, he gave a small dance, smiling and jumping. He survived. The bears survived. He was at peace.

“Let's find a good place to set spawn first, Andy and Scar. And then find some food and start building a shelter.” 

Skeppy was about to run off into the spruce trees when he slipped and fell back into the water. He got up and turned to where he was standing, looking at the sand.

Ice.

_ “But beware of the Heart of Ice curse while you try to find it here.” _

_ “The greedy and the ungrateful get the curse. Too bad you’re one of them. _

“That damned drowned…” Skeppy sighed heavily as he picked up his bags and cubs and walked into the forest.

He tried to let it not settle in his mind, but he knew one thing and one thing only.

He was cursed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> If you want to reach out to me, I'm @mxdevilishere on wattpad and twitter! Do not repost any of my work anywhere else!
> 
> I am going to post this on wattpad after I finish the story up so please be patient!
> 
> Thank you for all the support and motivation to continue writing! I really appreciate it!


	4. The End (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new dawn; the start of a revolution and the battle of a thousand vines. The end is near.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! This chapter is pretty long :\\.
> 
> Trigger/content warnings for descriptive injury, body horror, and a short mention of suicide! If that makes you uncomfortable, step away because it can get descriptive at times!
> 
> Cutting this in to two parts like the last one since this is really long.
> 
> I had my friend edit some of it for me this time (thank you runaway creator) so the english is better!
> 
> Remember this this an alternate universe I created and not an actual part of the lore!!
> 
> Thank you for all the love and support!!!

“Andy! Come back with the spider eye!” Skeppy slid down the stone brick stairs, ice following him as he chased down his polar bear, who held a fermented spider eye in a leather bag with its mouth as it ran around the flowery fields of his island.

Scar was playing around with a few bees in the forest nearby, so Skeppy didn’t pay much attention to him as he slid around the fields with his ice magic. Although the curse gave him physical and nervous pain, it still had its perks. His chest ached from using it, but it hurt less than the first time he tried to, where he had a heart attack from trying to create a simple icicle. 

He inhaled the grassy air as he slid past the fields into the rocky parts of the island. A place he knew well but didn’t dare to go into for the fear of him accidentally falling onto the jagged rocks. Images of skeletons casually laying on the rocks filled his eyes as he moved across the taiga plains. 

Andy was still going; running beyond where even Skeppy had gone past. The ravenet stopped using his ice and took a small break from chasing his polar bear as he held his hand to his chest, taking a breather.

He got up and walked down to the shrubbery Andy had disappeared in, taking a peak before he gasped in surprise and pulled out his sword.

Clearing away the leaves and branches, he walked down the now oak and birch tree biome as a ruined portal sat at the base of the hill with Andy gnawing at a rabbit he found near it.

“Holy shit, Andy, this is amazing!” The coldness of the obsidian reminded him of the intense heat of the nether he felt as he ran away from his friend.

Bad.

The egg.

The mainlands.

The server.

“How long have I even been gone for?” He petted Andy and looked at the oak biome plains in front of him.

“Must’ve been a pretty long time.” He turned to his bear and stood up. “I think I have a flint and steel in my house. Let me go and get it.”

Together, they ran off the fields, Skeppy placing a bright block of red wool to recognize the place when they came back.

They walked up the stairs of their stone brick castle into the vast long hallways. He looked around, trying to remember where he kept his obsidian and flint and steel. 

“I need to mark these hallways next time…” Skeppy felt his way down the hallway with his hand, trying to remember which room and hallway his items were. Snapping into a small trance of realization, he ran down the third hallway and opened the first door, revealing a lava poo with several chests around it. 

Skeppy dug into one of the chests, pulling out some dark purple blocks and a lighter. The dim lanterns illuminated the room as he closed the doors to get back outside.

“Andy, how do you think they’ll welcome me? I wonder how the egg is. Have they gotten the egg bullshit together?” He walked back down the stairs with his bear and strolled down the grassy plains. 

Spotting the red wool block, he ran to the shrubs and went under them, pulling out the obsidian blocks and placing them where the ruined portal is. 

“Maybe Bad will be back to normal again. Do they think I’m dead? I wonder if they’ve relocated or gotten rid of the bloodvines. It would be quite interesting.” He rolled the gear on the lighter and lit up the light and placed it near the portal.

He jumped away as the empty space turned purple with magic, dropping the extra obsidian and attempting walking into the portal when red flashed before his eyes.

Skeppy jumped away in fear, triggering his ice to protect himself and his polar bear as bloodvines thrusted in the air, trying to find him. A ball of ice wrapped around them as Skeppy hugged Andy, waiting for the bloodlines to leave.

Not finding anything to hurt or take, the vines descended back into the portal, the base of their appendages created a weird blocky crimson substance and blocked up the portal.

“What the hell…” Skeppy held his now darkened hand, clearing away the ice ball and walking down the portal.

He touched the red substance that blocked up the portal. It was stained with blood. He looked at Andy, who licked up the blood on the block and had stained his fur with blood.

“What happened…?” Skeppy mined away at the obsidian holding the bloody substance up, pushing the block down.

“Will it work if we go in early?” Skeppy pushed the blocks aside and lit up the portal again, pulling out his maxed out diamond axe and ready to fight.

Pushing Andy out of the way into the bushed to protect him. Skeppy threw his blade at the vines coming out the purple magic, blood and flesh staining the ground he stood on.

Bracing himself, he entered the portal.

  
  


**********************************************************************

Bloody, pulsating vines held themselves as different, hardened versions of the vine-covered portals and went into the bedrock of the top and bottom of the nether. Skeppy held his axe close to him as he walked across the blood-covered, grey netherrack ground.

The crimson forests were drained of their color and the netherack nearby was grey and dead. The warped forests were red and bleeding.

“Bad… What have you done…?” Skeppy looked out into the lava and at the grey netherack and sat down. Watching.

A piglin ran around on another netherack island as vines attacked it, tearing it apart as its disoriented grunts and yelps echoed back to where Skeppy sat. Its blood turned white and its organs and bag were taken, leaving a disembodied carcass for the animals who were lucky not to get killed to feast on.

Skeppy looked out and spotted a portal covered in the bloody red material. Placing a purple wool block where he was to mark it, he turned back and ran into the hold where his portal was, covering it in netherack before running into it.

********************************************************************

  
  


“I don’t think the vines are gone, Scar…” Skeppy pasted a badly-drawn sketch of the bloodvines on the whiteboard in his study.

“This isn’t normal. Why would the nether be like this? Surely they have a way to move around, right?” Skeppy put a small piece of the bloody block he got from the chunk back at the ruined portal on the table. “Unless their movement in and out of the nether has been restricted by the egg.” 

Scar passed him the spider eye bag he chased Andy for. Throwing it into the brewing stand behind him, he turned back to the board.

“The vines can tear people apart…” His head recounts to the piglin that was torn apart and disemboweled before his very eyes. “And turns their blood white but only takes its organs for some reason...”

“What about the others? Were any of them killed? Are they still alive? Were they taken by the vines?” His mind wandered to the tired, fearful eyes of Tommy and Puffy when Bad was trying to kill him. Were they still alive?

Skeppy went back to sit at the meeting table of his study, looking around at the bookshelves and monster heads hung around him.

“The problem is, I don’t know how strong the vines are. They could literally be stronger than an ender dragon.” He clicked his pen around on the table. “The strength of two withers! Or something like that.”

He looked down at his polar bear across the table, who nibbled on the red chunk he placed there.

“But I’m not strong enough. I don’t want to be as dead as people think I am. Bad has probably gotten stronger, and I’m just here.” He put his head down on the table, trying to think of plan after plan.All of them resulted in his eventual demise.

The door swung open, revealing Andy pulling the rest of the bloody vine chunk he left at the stairs.

“Andy, why did you bring it in here? It’s staining the carpets.” Andy continued to pull it into the room, dropping it on the ground. 

“What are you suggesting?” The polar bear looked up at him, blood staining his fur coat as he went back down to lick the blood secreting off of it.

  
  


Skeppy’s eyes gazed around the fireplace lighting up the room when the idea hit him like a brick.

“Andy, you fucking genius!” Getting up hastily from his chair, he pulled the bloody vine block out into the hallway. 

“I think it’s enough to make an axe and pickaxe.” Going down one of the hallways at the lobby, he pulled it into the smithing room, where he threw it into the lava.

He looked out the door, seeing his polar bears licking up the blood that the block had secreted onto the ground.

“I think it would take some time since the vines could survive in the lava, but we can wait for it.” The polar bears started backing away in fear, whimpering. 

“What’s wrong?” He turned back. The lava he had put the block in turned white, overflowing and spilling onto the ground.’’

“What the-” The feeling of danger raised suddenly as he blocked the door in thick ice, the lava exploding into the room.

“Andy! Scar! Run!” The polar bears sped out of the hallway as Skeppy crawled out of the small space the ice spared. The white lava sizzled through the thick ice. 

Grabbing a nearby water bucket, he splashed it over the lava, creating obsidian and darkening the bright light the lava created.

In the middle of the obsidian, a hot, shining, and red melting metal sat, dripping into the purple and black.

Digging the obsidian out and grabbing a smithing table and some tools, he used some tongs to carry the red metal out of the obsidian, placing it on an anvil.

************************************************************************************************************

“It’s quite a weird metal, but I’m sure it's strong.” Skeppy enchanted the pickaxe with silk touch and placed it down the axe. “I think we have a chance against them with it.

Looking out the window, he stared at the dozens of trees and grass and flowers outside. The ocean crashed against the sand with the small piece of ice rocking in the waters.

"I may or may not come back home. There's a chance I may come back home, but I may never come back." He ruffed the furs of his polar bears. “I can’t bring you because I’m scared that you’ll get hurt. I’ve already lost too much to let you anywhere near that portal.”

He looked at the white bubbling lava in his smithery’s lavapool was he leaned against the wall. “I have to stack up on food for both of us. But I promise, I’ll come home, okay?” He hugged the furry floofs with all the might he had, their small but clawed feet hugging him back.

Smiling, he turned to carry both of them and his weapons out of the room and turned to the potion room. Opening it up, he pulled out a small bottle full of water, inspecting it.

“This is prime water. From the Church of Prime. It’s one of the only things powerful enough to even put a dent on these vines.”

_ “So, what do you want to talk about, Mr.Skeppy?” Dream’s infamous smile stared holes down into his face, crawling at his skin. _

_ “Bad has gone completely crazy! The egg, the vines, everything is just terrible!” Skeppy pulled at his hair lightly, images of the sadistic smile on Bad’s face as he sliced his face open came into view. _

_ “I guess that's where you got the bandages on your face.” The masked man playfully poked at the bandages that caressed Skeppy’s nose and forehead. _

_ “I never thought I’d be asking this, but I need your help, Dream. Yes, you, Dream. You’re the only one with knowledge that can help me with this.” Hot tears ran down his eyes. “I don’t have any choice anymore. He’s trying to kill me, he plans on hunting me down, I have to leave soon and I just want to know what to do to even be near his skillset when- or if, I fight him.” _

_ The green-eyed man was silent, lifelessly staring into the blue hooded man as he sat with cuffs on. _

_ “Why do you ask me to help you, despite what I was planning to do?” Skeppy looked up from crying into the masked man’s eyes, shining through the cracked smiling mask. _

_ “I don’t have a choice. It’s a do or die at this point for me, Dream.” Dream got up though the bonds, clearing his voice as he used one of the cuffed hands to take off his mask. _

_ The densely-freckled, blond boy looked at the ground, a deep scar near the base of his mouth. _

_ “It is possible to defeat a dreamon despite it’s immortality, but it’s quite dangerous. This case is different, since his life quite literally depends on your own.” He stretched out his mouth, revealing sharp teeth and weird green tongue tendrils. The cuffs on him sizzled, causing his teeth to go back to normal human teeth. _

_ “What do you mean?” _

_ “His lives are infinite because he’s a dreamon. Dreamons live forever. Well, they live forever unless they are attached to someone or something…” _

_ “So if I die, Bad loses a life?” _

_ “Exactly! You’re getting there.” _

_ “Dream, I am not going to commit suicide three times just to kill him.” _

_ “Well that’s a shame...” _

_ “Is there another more convenient way?” _

_ Dream raised his finger up. “There is another way but it depends on if you’re willing to do it. _

_ “Okay… What is it?” _

_ “There’s a reason why Church Prime is so important. There's a reason why Bad didn’t enter the area when he was chasing Tommy-” _

_ “How do you know-” _

_ “Bad told me.” _

_ “Oh.” _

_ “Anyways, try and get some of it. A bottle or two will do the trick. Since the egg may most likely be a dreamon itself from its behaviours, throwing some of the good ol’ church prime water can do the trick.” _

_ “Oh that’s, actually better than the other option…” _

_ “But it’s dangerous because you have to do it to his face when both beings are present. That is, maybe when the egg and Bad are talking at the same time.” _

_ “You had to make this harder, didn’t you?” _

_ “I’m not the one bootlicking an egg, don’t look at me!” _

_ Skeppy sighed, looking at Dream. _

_ “Thanks, Dream. This means a lot. I might die trying to help him, but who knows. Only time will tell.” _

_ “Well, see you soon, Skeppy. Thanks for visiting.” The potion Sam threw made him black out as the shining green eyes dimmed from his view. _

“I have only two small bottles of it, though, so I think I have a decent chance to use it. I’ll use the second one to purify the pond when I come home. I don’t have the time right now though. Too much is on the line for me.” He brought out a small bowl and opened the bottle. 

Putting the weapons in the bowl, he poured the prime water, the metal sizzling as the red disappeared into a white color.

He poured the rest back inside the bottle, put it in his bag, and zipped it up.

“All I need is to get some food and then I can start going. Hey Scar-” He stopped as Scar sat in the doorway, holding a trident in his mouth.

“Yes, and that too. Thank you for reminding me, Scar.”

He kissed them goodnight and left the room, walking back into the lobby into the other hallway where he took the stairs up to his room.

Lying down on his fur-and-leather-and-feather bed, he opened his closet, looking at the worn prime cloak that he had worn so long ago.

Through glaciers, through forests, through oceans, through, nearly every biome and landform out there.

“Hello, my old friend,” He pulled the cloak out, wearing it over his shoulders. “It’s been so long, but I need you one last time.”

Looking out at the sun bleeding in the sky as it set, Skeppy hugged his cloak and weapons, waiting for the dawn of his departure to rise, freezing his surroundings with his curse of a heart of ice.

*********************************************************************************

  
  


“I love you both. It’s so hard to leave!” He hugged Andy and Scar at the entrance of the castle as he slung his bag over his shoulder. “I’m sure I caught enough meat for you both to eat for about several weeks. Stay safe and take care of each other.” Walking down the stairs, he turned to look at the castle one more time.

He could leave and probably die never seeing it again. He tried not to think of the negatives, but they strayed into his mind like bedbugs at night.

He walked down into the grassy fields and inhaled the air, spinning around as bits of snow started falling.

“That would keep the bears safe from intruders for now.” He held his hand out, summoning his ice as he slid across the plains to the infamous red wool he placed. The ruins portal shone with glory in the now whitening plains.

“If I don’t come back home, I’m sorry.” He waved his castle goodbye as he hopped into the open portal, white pickaxe and axe in hand.

The grey netherrack welcomed him as he stepped into the nether, mining out of the small hole.

The lava shone a depressing white as the crimson forests withered in the air. The vines still cabled through the nether like wires in a neighbourhood.

Skeppy looked around, analyzing where to go when the purple wool he placed yesterday caught his eye. He spotted the sealed portal and smiled as he pulled out some cobblestone to cross the lava.

He was starting to build across when a vine swooped down and tried to slap him off the blocks.

Skeppy slashed it with his axe, blood spraying everywhere as he started speedbridging. The other vines started swaying near him, causing him to have no choice but to jump off and place a block down on the edge of the island the portal was on. He towered up, the heat rushing into his face as he swung his pickaxe at the red bloody black in the obsidian.

The vines were onto him. Flashing open his lighter, he lit up the portal and jumped in, disappearing from the nether before the vines could get to him.

******************************************************************************************************************

Skeppy’s eyes opened as he looked at his surroundings. Snow nearly covered him, and a familiar cyan box hung on a tree branch. He turned around. The portal he went through was blocked in the same red bloody blocks.

Standing up and dusting himself, he tried to make out where he was. Spruce trees, snow, frozen lake…

“Holy shit, I teleported to Techno’s place! If that isn’t dream luck, I don’t know what is,” He grabbed the cyan box off of the tree branch, holding it in his hands as he flipped it over and looked inside.

Apart from being soggy and a bit torn up, the derp box was just like he left it. 

“I’m coming to save you, Bad…” He whispered to himself as he put on the infamous box his old friend once made for him.

The ground started shaking as Skeppy’s instincts kicked in, causing him to jump away with a trail of ice following him from where he was standing while the ground split open.

Giant blood vines slithered out of the crack, wrapping around trees and melting the snow and ice in it.

Running away from the vines to a good distance, he glanced at his hand, which was darkened in frostbite from the blast he has used to get away from the rumbling ground.

“This is gonna be harder than I thought…” He mumbled to himself as he walked away from the area, clutching his hand like it had just fallen off.

Wandering around the forest, he finally spotted a cottage in the distance with a stable and dog house, instantly recognizing the pig man’s residence.

At the door, a white haired and white cloaked being stood, not moving at all.

“Technoblade? Technoblade!” Skeppy dropped his bags and ran towards the figure, the snow thick and firm as Skeppy made out the greyish figure in the white themed environment.

“Techno?” Skeppy stopped in front of the snowet(white haired dude idk), searching for his distinguishable figures. “Who are you?”

“Do you think you could've just left the egg and not face any consequences?” An enchanted netherite axe was placed at the base of Skeppy’s neck. “You’re dead wrong. Whether I take all your three lives here or take you to Bad to do it for me, is up to you.”

The cold blade flashed to Bad slicing his face, blood on the veiny floor, sending shivers down his spine. “Why can’t you just let me go?”

“You being alive keeps the egg in distress,” The blade pressed deeper into his skin, blood flowing from the cut. “and we can’t have that when we’re literally the strongest group on the server, can we Skeppy?”

He looked into his dead red eyes, showing no sign of life or control. “Techno…”

An idea came to mind.

_ “Anyways, try and get some of it. A bottle or two will do the trick. Since the egg may most likely be a dreamon itself from its behaviours, throwing some of the good ol’ church prime water can do the trick.” _

Digging one of his hands into his pocket for the bottle, he carried it by the tip as he glared at Techno the whole time.

‘I’m gonna probably die from this…” He thought in his mind as he put his plan to action. Immediately, he used his free hand to punch Technoblade’s face, using the same hand to summon some snow to crystalize around his legs. 

Techno shrieked inhumanly as he attempted to get out, flailing his sword and limbs around as sharp vines with tips made of similar materials that blocked the portals sprouted from his back.

Skeppy swung his axe at some of them, spraying blood and vine flesh everywhere as he used every second given to him to pull out the prime water bottle.

“Don’t try and fight it Skeppy, every god who once lived in this world’s blood has spilled into these vines. You stand nothing near them, diamond boy.” Techno didn’t even look like a piglin anymore; just an amalgamation of blood vines with a fancy cloak on. “Your blood will simply be compost to crops!”

Unable to unscrew the cap, Skeppy shook up the bottle and was about to aim it at him when he felt something go through his body.

He froze in his position as blood dripped onto the snow floor, the vine slowly pulling away from the wound it caused in his abdomen.

"You really think you're funny, huh?" Vines grabbed his legs and pulled Skeppy to himself, a vine slapping him in the cheek.

"To make the egg angry?" Another vine slapped his other cheek. "To allow you to run around on the loose when the egg wants to see you?" A vine dug into his neck, blood spilling on the snow.

"You want to know what really makes me pissed the most?" Technoblade held his axe at the left side of Skeppy's neck, looking into his blue eyes.

"You still think Bad would succumb to the pitifulness of mortality." Skeppy's eyes widened as blood rippled through the side neck, splattering onto his cloak and face.

His bleeding body fell on the floor, the prime water bottle rolling out of his hands. He tried to reach for it, but a vine stabbed his wrist, causing him to shriek in pain.

"Disgusting mortals. Getting blood all over my clothes." Techno's eyes softened as his vines him dug out of the ice, one picking at Skeppy as he coughed up blood.

The vines of Technoblade were about to free himself from the ice and finish the job when a glass bottle of prime water hit his vines like a bullet. Steam filled the air and Techno screamed, his vines melting and spilling onto the snow like blood.  


“Skeppy!” The derp box man fell onto the floor, turning to the direction where the screams came from. A tall black and white figure with a green man ran towards him, weapons and potions in hand.

He felt all the life leaving his body. He failed his friends. He failed the server. He failed Bad. He failed everyone. 

Bad really wouldn't give a shit about him anymore, would he?

He felt himself being lifted onto something as he blacked out from the blood loss.

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“We were able to get him neutralized for now thanks to Skeppy’s attack. He’s being held in the laboratory until we can cure him.” The opening and closing of cabinets echoed in his ears.

“Skeppy, though… He lost a life. I don’t know how many lives he has left but he needs to be careful, especially with his friend on the loose as a rogue evil demon.”

“I’m sure we can have a plan to help the others! I mean, I don’t want Philza and Techno to stay this way. They look…. Not like themselves… Techno is this weird wormy flytrap thing and Philza looks like my sleep paralysis demon that makes me scared of sleeping at night. We need to do something Sam.”

“We have to go step by step, Puffy. Rushing one step could cause casualties in the next. Don’t you remember what happened last time? Tommy nearly drowned and almost everyone was injured!”

“You’re right Sam, but we need to be quick about it. We’ve moved camp several times these past months and we’ve barely made any progress.”

“I’ll take your words into consideration Puffy.”

The shuffling of feet stopped as Skeppy opened his eyes up to where he was. He clutched onto the blanket covering him as cold hair hit his bandaged arms.

“Awake, Skeppy?” A familiar voice called to him. He turned around, looking at the direction of the voice. The green and red eyed black and white figure stood on the other bed beside his, looking at him with eyes of relief.

“Oh. Hey Ranboo. It’s been quite some time, hasn’t it?” He waved lightheartedly with his bandaged hand.

“Yeah. Everyone thought you were dead and were scared you were going to die.” He closed his eyes, imagining everything that had happened like it was a distant memory. “It was quite a frenzy arriving back and camp and you soaked the stretcher in blood completely.”

Skeppy checked his abdomen for the wound, but his skin was smooth and clear, like ice, apart from a darkened spot in the shape of the wound. His fingers were the only thing horribly bruised, but it was probably from staying in one place for so long. 

Like, nothing ever even touched him.

“Where’s the wound then?” He touched around the area again, only feeling the cold of his curse.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you! We set your bed and you died and respawned here. We threw your other body in the river.”

“Oh… Okay…”

“In fact, how many lives do you even have left?”

“I don’t really remember. I think either two or one. I wouldn’t doubt one at this point.” Glancing at his bruised frostbite that littered his arms, he looked back at Ranboo.

“What happened to your arm?” The boy pointed at his arms. Skeppy rolled up his sleeve, revealing the mess that was his arm.

“I got cursed with this weird ice thing while I was back at sea. Now I have this ice thing that freezes parts of my body when I use it.” Ranboo nodded as he turned to look at the door.

“Should I tell Puffy and Sam you’re awake? They were dead worried about you.” Skeppy nodded as Ranboo stood up from his bed and left the tent.

“Skeppy! You’re alive!” Two figures ran towards him, tackling him down in his bed. 

“Sorry, he kept pestering us to let them in. But it seems they’re happy about it!” Sam chuckled a bit as SKeppy was squished between Sapnap and Puffy’s hugs.

“I thought you were fucking dead and then you pulled up to the camp literally bleeding on a stretcher. I don’t want to lose you like I lost Bad!” Sapnap squeezed him even more, causing Skeppy to hug him back.

“Where have you been Skeppy?” Puffy asked, who released him a bit from her grips.

“I left the mainlands and crossed some icy oceans into another island. I don’t remember how long I’ve been-”

“About seventeen months.”

“Wait, seriously?!”

“Time travels fast when you’re by yourself. The least I can do is tell you what has been happening to the server since you left. Sapnap, get off of him. Walk with me if you can Skeppy.” Skeppy nodded and got up from the bed as Sapnap released him from his hug.

Wearing a wooly coat he found on the side of his bed, he followed Puffy out of the tent. It was purple and white from the outside. There were several other purple and white tents that stretched out into the taiga plains. There was a small campfire and a smaller tent with food and animals stored.

“Skeppy’s awake?” The familiar bee sweatered ram ran up to the two walking, wearing a hazmat and some gloves. Some blood and liquid metal stained it.

“Why are you wearing a hazmat suit Tubbo?” Puffy asked as Tubbo shook his head, taking off the headpiece.

“Someone has to do something about that damned egg Puffy! Peace and happiness is temporary when a literal demon is trying to look for us! There is literally a bloodvine already nearing the first tent and we finished setting this up last week!” 

“So what are you planning to do?”

“Blow up that damn thing to smithereens. The source is the biggest pest.”

“But-”

“YOUR NONVIOLENCE AND NEGOTIATION WON’T SAVE YOU PUFFY.” And with that, the ram child ran off into his tent, probably working on his nukes or something like that.

“Sorry about that. Tubbo hasn’t really been that happy since we had to move out of Snowchester because of the egg.”

“No, it's fine Puffy. You were saying something about after I left?” Skeppy wanted to hear about what had happened.

“Oh yeah! Well, some people fell for the egg and stuff. Like Philza and Techno and have become these weird monster things. We’ve contained most of them, but some others are still missing. Like, Ponk and Purpled.” She looked at the fat bloodvine clinging onto the trees in the outskirts of the clearing as they strolled. “We set up a camp in Snowchester to escape the vines but we had to move several times due to the egg’s rapid growth. Sometimes they try to attack us and kill us, which thankfully has led to no fatal casualties apart from Sam and I losing a life.”

Showing a scar on her neck in the coat she was weaning, she let the hood fall back, continuing the conversation.

“Damn… And all of the portals were closed?”

“Yes. The nether had this weird system of vines that acted as a defence, security and one way door. Our only hope was Ranboo, which is how we found you near Technoblade’s house when he took one of your lives.”

“The nether is so weird now. The lava is white, the netherrack is grey, its so- alien.”

“Maybe its the way the egg changed the colors of people that it changed the environment. We still need to find a way to open it up.”

“I mean, it’s hard but not impossible. Though it’s gonna take some planning.” Skeppy brought out his axe, white and shining.

“What material is that even made out of?”

“The material used in blocking the portals. I smelted and crafted it then purified it in prime water.”

“Oh yeah and before we turn back… Why did your bed freeze?”

“A curse from some weird ocean demon thing I encountered.”

‘And you're chill about it?”

“It gave me frostbite but I get ice powers so I think it's a fair deal.”

“If you insist. Anyways, how are we going to open the nether portals back up? Those vines can kill any and everything from what I’ve seen, how are we going to disable them?”

They stopped in front of a nether portal, which was blocked with the same red bloody material.

“Are you strong enough to pull a few of these back to camp? Is there enough prime water to go around?”

“Most likely! We’d need a few people to ensure a steady supply. One to defend when we open the portal and one to bring it to a place we can smelt it. I’m sure there's a lava pool near here down close to the east of the camp. I’ll tell the others.”

“Sounds like a great idea!” 

“And before I go, check on Sam. He wanted to talk to you sometime ago!” Skeppy gave her a thumbs up before passing her his axe and pickaxe. Nodding, she galloped back to camp.

Skeppy was about to start heading back to the camp when someone put their hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw the familiar creeper man’s face.

“We need to talk, Skeppy. About, well, a lot if I’m trying to be truthful.” He fixed his slanting crown as he strolled out of the clearing, Skeppy jogging to keep up with him.

“I already sent Puffy and the other to work on getting the bloodvine obsidian blocks. We need to-”

“It’s about Bad. And your power Skeppy. C’mon. I need to show you something.” Sam went down a small path in the spruce forest. Skeppy simply nodded and followed.

“So, what about him? All I know is that he’s some weird egg servant now. Is there really much else about his current state that I need to know?” 

Sam walked up to a tree as they walked down the path. A bunch of leaves stood on it. Pushing them away, was a trapdoor. He opened the trapdoor, gesturing to Skeppy to follow him. 

Sam climbed down into the trapdoor’s ladder as Skeppy climbed down after him. The climb door was long and dark but as soon as Sam reached the ground, the pressure plates triggered and the lights turned on. On the sidelines, Philza, Antfrost, Technoblade, and some pets sat in cages. A bunch of science equipment sat at the end of the room, with prime water in different closed off buckets sitting with it.

“This is a weird place…” Skeppy looked into Techno’s cell, backing away as his bloody vines tried to grab him.

“It is. But it’s the only place that's far and isolated enough from the camp that I can work on these things.” He walked down to his equipment. “It’s hard enough already to supply medicine and items to everyone.”

He pulled out a book from one of the shelves and gave it to Skeppy to look at. Turning the pages, he saw a segment marked with a ruler detailing possible cures and treatments for the egg.

“I tried my best night and day and afternoon and evening nearly everyday, but I couldn't find anything. Except I found one thing.” He pulled out a dog cage with two sleeping dogs in them. “Since the egg has more of a magic and emotional approach than scientific, I tried to put two of Techno’s dogs that looked similar together and with some church prime water, I was able to get them cured. I tried two random dogs but it didn’t work at all.” 

He pulled out another cage with seemingly rabid contaminated dogs with bloodlines all over them. “I feel like it's not the prime water that matters, it's the connection you have with the person or thing you’re attempting to cure. Or at leas, having something connected to the person while trying to cure them”

Skeppy looked stunned as he watched the cured dogs in the cage run around and play with each other. “So what you’re saying is the stronger the bond, the more chance it has?”

“Definitely. It would probably make curing Badboyhalo easier since you’re literally his best friend. We still have to plan though.” He sat on his seat, crossing his legs. “Oh yeah. And tell me more about your powers Skeppy.”

“Oh! Well, I can blast out ice, life this!” Skeppy posed and shot ice shards out of his hand and into the floor. His hand grew red and purple, stinging like a thousand needles pricked him repeatedly.

“Curse, I see?” Skeppy nodded, holding onto his hand as he dusted himself.

“Heart of Ice?”

“How did you-”

“I read a lot while looking for a cure and stalling, Skeppy. Anyways, let me try and find the book in the back and see if there's a cure. Stay here.” Sam stood up and pulled a few books from the shelves behind him, triggering a door to open within it. Entering, the door closed itself, leaving Skeppy in the dim wide laboratory. 

He turned to Technoblade and Philza’s cells, an idea, dangerous but just as might-be-successful came into his mind.

Skeppy grabbed one of Techno’s tentacles and attempted to grab one of Philza’s demon wings when he attempted to bite him. Pulling his hand away, he tied the two together and grabbed a cup from the counter. Scooping some of the prime water from one of the buckets, He threw the water at the knot, splashing the wall and their cells in prime water.

Inhuman screams and screeches were heard as Skeppy dropped the empty bucket to cover his bleeding ears. He closed his eyes shut and knelt as it continued for what felt like hours.

Blood from the vines seeped onto the floor as their screams calmed down. Skeppy opened his eyes, looking into the eyes of the light pink haired piglin and blond purple eyed angel; both their clothes soaked in blood.

“Technoblade? Philza? Are you there?”

“Skeppy, I want to make it very clear to you that I apologize for stabbing you back there.” Techo’s eyes showed sympathy and guilt as Skeppy smiled, running over toTechno’s cell in an ill attempt to hug him.

“Techno! You’re back!” Skeppy held his hands through the bars, tears falling down his eyes.

The back door opened and Sam ran in with a tazing trident. Looking where Skeppy was and the state of the environment he was in, he ran towards him, turned him away from Techno to check if he was okay.

“Did they hurt you? I heard screams from down there and got worried.” Skeppy waved it off as he pointed at Techno then the church prime water.

“I guess it worked since Techno has a close bond with Philza as his friend?” Skeppy nodded, fiddling with his hands.

“Well, Philza, how do you feel?” Skeppy opened up their cells .

“I am never going to touch another red thing for years.” Philza walked out, trembling as he tried to shake off the water that had drenched his feathers. 

“Skeppy, I found the book!” Sam pulled out a small hardcover book. “Let me flip to the page.”

After some silent seconds, Sam folded one of the pages and handed it to Skeppy.

‘

“‘The cure is… the tears of the bonds of water and the blood of an enemy…?’ Sam I think I’m dying with this curse…”

“Is there anything else on the page?” Sam shifted to where Skeppy was to look.

“‘A cursed soul, if not cured, is destined to freeze to death painfully, no matter what anyone does.’ Uh Sam how do I cure myself? Bad would literally stick a knife in my neck if he felt like it.” Skeppy passed the book back to Sam, looking uneasy.

“If we can just get all of our stuff together and plan out what we’ll do, I’m sure we can get you cured before you die a cold, slow, and painful death! Right guys?” Sam turned to Philza and Techno, who awkwardly gave him a thumbs up.

“Anyways, we need to go back and help the others at camp. From what I’ve seen in the nether, L’man Crater, the egg and Bad, we have a chance at defeating them, but that's if we take risky chances.” Sam nodded, turning to get back to the ladder to climb back out.

“I’m willing to take any chances if it means we get some peace. Meet me at the main tent when you’re done.” And with that, Sam ascended up the ladder. Skeppy turned to look at Techno and Philza.

“I suggest you stay in the quarantine tent when you come back up, Philza and Techno.. It’s nice to see you both again.” Skeppy gave them a thumbs up.

“Also, once again Skeppy, I apologize for taking one of your lives.” Techno looked down at the floor.

“It’s fine. And it wasn’t you who killed me, it was the egg in control.”

“I am still in debt to you since my hand was used in the blow.”

“Hmm, we need your help with something. Follow me.” Skeppy climbed up the ladder back up into the night of the forest. The other two climbed out, silently following Skeppy as he walked down the path back to the camp.

The camp was already quite busy. White lava bubbled in the centre where the campfire usually stayed as bloody red blocks and melting demon metal stacked beside it. The two disappeared behind Skeppy as they went to greet and embrace their friends. 

Skeppy walked down through the people laughing and talking together, walking up to a familiar tent as he opened it.

“Skeppy? We needed your input.” Sam, Puffy, and Sapnap sat around the beds, staring at him.

“Is it the plan?”

“Yes, we need someone, someone like you, who has seen the nether and also has a better understanding on how the egg works.” Puffy featured him near as he sat down beside Sapnap.

“So what are your ideas so far?”

“So far, we’ve had full mob charging and divided teams.” Sam pulled out a notebook and flipped through the pages.

“I still think we should do groups. We’ll have less casualties and it will be more coordinated.” Sapnap said.

“I think that's a great idea! Though we need to coordinate the groups by how strong they are in that particular biome and subject.” Skeppy grasped a paper and pen on a night stand near them, scribbling down some things.

He doodled three circles. “There are three cores we need to get rid of. The one in the nether, the one in L’manburg, and the egg itself, Bad included somehow.”

“Does each core have a separate mind or are they connected or are they the same entity?” Sam asked, drawing up some things in his notebook.

“Each core is connected somewhat to the egg and has the same effect and voice, so they’re most likely parts of the egg that were able to bloom in other places. They’re capable of complex thinking, magic and mind manipulation.”

“Interesting. Is there a way to be several steps ahead of them?”

“Well, Puffy, since they’re literal master demons, the only real possible way to do something is to do something they wouldn’t expect. They cannot expect the unexpected. Any ideas?”

“We can nuke it.” They all turned to face the voice. Tubbo stood at the doorway, hazmat suit on.

“We can nuke the cores.”

“But Tubbo that would cause so much unnecessary destruction and loss of life! Its-”

“The demons wouldn’t expect a bomb to drop on them, Skeppy. We can immobilize them with the groups, get our shit and leave as the nuke obliterates the cores. It's foolproof.”

“Have you been eavesdropping?” Puffy asked him. The ram boy nodded. Everyone turned to Sam for confirmation. Giving a sigh, he stood up from the purple sheeted bed he was sitting on.

“I thought we’d never come to this, but it seems it has. We’ll still send people to weaken it so it has less of a chance to survive the blast, and we’ll pack up our things and move off here since the radiation would probably kill us. Skeppy, have the cords for your home?”

Skeppy nodded at Sam’s question. 

“How many nukes do you have Tubbo?” He turned to the coated boy. Tubbo put up seven fingers. Sam simply nodded.

“Two into the nether, two into the egg and three into the lmanburg crater. We can strike in about seven days. Tell the others, set the timers.” Tubbo gave him a thumbs up, leaving the tent.

“The rest of you. Start working on an attack, especially for the nether and egg cores, that no demon would expect. A new dawn is going to rise. We may die, we may fall. We may rise, we may run in triumph. All I know? The eggpire is coming to an end.” Sam pulled out his sword, raising it into the air.

“For the server?” The others raised whatever they held on their right hand in the air, the atmosphere filled with determination. “For the server!”

Sam put his sword back when his face lit up in surprise. “I forgot! I brought some extra help along with us.” Sam left the tent shortly, coming back with a covered cage.

“Techno’s dogs?” Sam shook his head at Puffy. Removing the cloth that covered him, Skeppy gasped as a familiar smile peered at him.

“Been quite some time diamond boy.” Dream grasped onto the bars, hissing as Sam set him down.

“We couldn’t keep him in prison, so i put him in this cage and carried him with us. He might be some help since he’s a dreamon as well, if he doesn’t try and kill us before us I suppose.” 

“I promise you, My evil arc is over. I literally have nothing to live for anymore.” Dream grinned, giving him the middle finger. Skeppy made one back, triggering Dream to laugh as he grasped onto the bars of his small cage more, glaring lasers into him.

“Want to check on the others for now?” Sapnap asked, gesturing Skeppy to hold his hand. Skeppy nodded, accepting his hand hold as they left the tent leaving Dream, Sam and Puffy in it.

Ranboo and Tommy played around in the smithing area in ragged dark purple cloaks as Fundy and Ponk and Foolish brought them the metal, the others either chatting around or crafting weapons and armor. The camp buzzed with life as Skeppy and Sapnap walked past others, sometimes smiling and waving at them.

“Hey Skeppy, can you promise me something?” Skeppy turned to Sapnap, surprised.

“Sure, whats up?” Sapnap sighed as he started talking.

“Don’t leave me like Bad did.”

“What?”

“When you were gone, I was devastated. My first dad was some weird demon cultist and my other dad, you, were either dead or hidden in some place away from the server.” He looked down, playing with his thumbs. “I don’t want you to leave. Please, try not to die or get hurt. Please?”

Skeppy was surprised at the amount of emotion Sapnap had shown. Normally he would either ignore him or deck him with a sword with fire aspect, but this was one of the first times he’d ever seen him emotional, hell, even open up to him.

Skeppy lightheartedly smiled and put his hand on Sapnap’s shoulder.

“I’m not going anywhere Sapnap.” He raised his pointer finger up. “We are going to win this battle and get Bad back. I promise you. Okay?”

Skeppy was tackled to the ground as Sapnap hugged him, lava tears flowing down his eyes.

“Please don’t leave me alone in the dark…” Skeppy didn’t know how to respond. All he could do was hug him back as Sapnap’s lava tears trickled and burned his skin.

He didn’t care though. All he wanted was for his friend’s son to feel safe, even if he had to take a parenting role doing so.

The new dawn was coming soon, so was the fall of the eggpire. As much as he had to take in that day, he was happy that he was doing it with people he knew care about him.

They were going to war in a few days against a demon of mass destruction. And they were going to come out victorious. That's all he knew. 

The two soon turned back, still holding hands as they went back to camp to work with the others.

*********************************************************************************************************

A plan not even a god leveled demon would expect.

Down with the eggpire today was.

Skeppy stood beside Sam as they talked with the phase one dispatchers. Although he was optimistic and high with excitement and overwhelmed, his heart sank as he thought about meeting Bad face to face after all this time on the run from him.

Sam assured him that with the weapons and enchantments they had, he was surely had the winner’s favour. But each time he even had a thought about meeting him again, his heart twisted and sunk with fear and doubt when his face appeared in his head.

“I think we revised the plan enough. The boats are out docked, and your things are packed. Meet phase two and three back at the frozen lake portal immediately as soon as your target is neutralized! We can’t waste any time with this, got it?” The figures wearing translucent white armor nodded, Sam putting his sword in his holder as he looked at the night sky.

It was the color of blood and blood vines, the moon sat shining like an orb of redstone as the stars looked down on the world.

“They know.” Skeppy muttered, changing the tension from nervously optimistic to fear and doubt.

“That’s no way to bring up the spirits of the-“

“We still have to be careful Sam. We may have an advantage in terms of our plans, but they have an advantage in terms of size and magic.”

Sam breathed in and out slowly, looking away from the sky as he put his hands together, turning away to look at the first dispatched group at the portal, who were lined up accordingly.

“I made the plan clear, or should I say it again?” Everyone shook their heads. “That’s good. You can proceed with the first phase. We’ll go now and wait at the portal near Techno’s house at the lake and wait for you to open it. Good lu-“

“Wait!” Sam turned to Sapnap, who ran out of the line, running to Sam’s side as he hugged Skeppy.

“Stay safe Sapnap.” Skeppy ruffled his hair playfully as he stood up well and and released him.

“I should be telling  _ you _ the same.” And with that, Sapnap ran back to the line.

“Okay. You may now-“

“Wait up Sam!”

“Jesus fu-“

Tommy ran from the backs of the two, hugging his friend wearing white armor.

“If you die, I’ll fucking kill you.” Tommy whispered, releasing Tubbo from his grasp.

“That’s if you don’t die from my nukes first.” Tubbo smirked at him.

“Has anyone told you that you are a bitch?”

“You’ve told me. Multiple times.”

“That’s enough, they need to go, we’re behind schedule.” Sam pulled Tommy off, dropping him on the grass.

“But we don’t know how strong the egg is in combat! I want to cherish my might-be final moments Sam!” Tommy sat up and went back to hug Tubbo.

“We are going to emerge victorious Tommy. Trust us.” Tubbo hugged Tommy back. They released the hug, and Tommy went back to Sam and Skeppy’s side.

“You may now proceed phase one of Operation Neutralize the Egg and Badboyhalo. Stay safe and strong. Good luck.” The others far behind them clapped and yelled as Sapnap lit the portal with his fire, purple magic engulfing the dark purple blocks.

Blood vines came out of them as usual, searching for the person who lit it when it was cut off with the swing of Tubbo’s axe, blood and vine flesh splattering on the portal.

“Let’s go before more come in!” Tubbo hopped into the portal, followed by Sapnap, Fundy, and Ponk.

“I better get something from this.” Techno jumped into the purple magic before Skeppy broke the portal.

“Everyone, put your armor on and meet us at the docks of Snowchester. We can’t waste any time we have.” Skeppy said, causing everyone to shuffle around back to the camp, getting their armor.

“Hey Skeppy,” Skeppy looked behind him. Karl tugged his cloak, holding a small purple book.

“Yeah Karl? What’s up?”

“Are you sure this will work?”

Skeppy contemplated for a moment. Not even he knew what the outcome would be.

“I’m not sure, but it doesn’t hurt to give it a try.” Skeppy’s eyes opened as he realised something. “Shouldn’t you have gone with Dream and Quackity leading the others to the main getaway boat? Why are you still here?”

“Because, well…”

“I mean, you can come with us now that we’re leaving. The place where the boat is has a portal to it. You can access it when phase one opens up the portal.” He passed him his white pickaxe. “They’re even going to it afterwards. You can tag with them when we arrive there.”

Karl’s worried nervous expression changed to relief and calmness.

“Oh... Thanks Skeppy! I’ll follow you guys. I think my things are already there anyway.”

“No problem Karl. Now c’mon! We can’t waste anymore time!” Dragging Karl along with him, he waved at the others leaving the camp with some of their things, getting horses, donkeys and dogs along with them.

The revolution had begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> If you want to reach out to me, I'm @mxdevilishere on wattpad and twitter! Do not repost any of my work anywhere else!
> 
> I am going to post this on wattpad after I finish the story up so please be patient!
> 
> Thank you for all the support and motivation to continue writing! I really appreciate it!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm available on twitter @mxdevilishere (main) and @mxdevilisthere (private) so if you wanna gist or critque or suggest shit contact me there.
> 
> @mxdevilishere on wattpad as well (ongoing dreamnotfound scp au fanfic there lol)


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